false light
by syn010110
Summary: A part of RadiantBeam's "Shadowsverse." Celica Iris-Lynnfield, a systems analyst in the NSIS, sees something she shouldn't. She barely escapes with her life, but now must discover the truth. Admiral Harlaown sends Lutecia Alphine to track her down.
1. Chapter 1

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.23.0088  
_

Celica Iris-Lynnfield stared blankly at the sprawled corpse laying on the metal deck before her.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," she muttered to herself aloud, glancing around quickly before reaching down to search the dead man. She didn't know his name, but he was a sergeant with the Security Division of the Naval Special Intelligence Service—the very same unit that Celica herself worked for as a systems analyst.

Until this very moment. The die had been indelibly cast; Celica's Interface Device emitted a soft chime as it altered its physical structure, switching from active mode to a suspended state. While in standby, the Device resembled a silver earring set with a shard of blue-white crystal.

It only took her a moment to find what she was searching for. The Security Division sergeant was a mage—he carried a Belkan-designed Armed Device in the shape of a broad-bladed ax. Celica did not desire the weapon for her own use, but the sergeant's Device contained security access codes that would be necessary to make her escape.

She had to move quickly. A general alarm hadn't yet been sounded, but it would be only a matter of time before someone noticed that three Security Division officers were no longer at their posts. Celica figured she had five minutes at the most before the whole facility was locked down.

"Tizona," murmured Celica in a low voice, "switch to Interface Form."

"[Interface Form]," the blue-white shard intoned in a clear masculine voice. Flashes of argent light blazed from the center of the jewel as mystic energy shaped into a floating, translucent holographic console consisting of multiple windows and touch-sensitive displays.

Celica went to work immediately. With her Device in Interface Form, she would be extremely vulnerable to attack—Tizona could not even bring up an autoguard barrier in this operational mode. All of his processing power was diverted to breaking through the Armed Device's security measures.

"Target Device is keyed via Linker Core signature," Tizona reported, not unexpectedly. Celica knew that most modern Devices, even simple weapons such as an Armed Device, were keyed to the unique signature of their owner's Linker Core.

This wouldn't pose a problem for Tizona, Celica knew. The man was dead, else Celica would have instructed her Device to simply scan the man's Linker Core and obtain the proper frequency. Without that luxury, Tizona would be forced to try and break through the defenses with brute force.

Celica felt sweat beading on her forehead as massive amounts of information scrolled across Tizona's three main displays. The Interface Device was leveraging all of its processing cores for this task, looking for any weak spot that could possibly be exploited. The Armed Device was outfitted with an extremely limited type of AI processor—it was no match for Tizona's multi-core, fully-unlocked AI processor array. The very same type of parallel processing unit inside Celica's Device was utilized for modern Unison Devices. Unlike those marvels of modern Belkan Device design, Tizona lacked his own Linker Core.

It only took a few short moments before Tizona's prodigious processing power broke through the Armed Device's feeble defenses, yielding up the proper frequency to activate the device. Celica sighed in relief as Tizona emulated a Linker Core's signature, "spoofing" the Device into yielding access to its internal memory.

"Transfer port access codes acquired," Tizona reported somberly.

"Let's get going, partner," murmured Celica softly. She stood up, never once having touched the fallen mage's Device, and glanced briefly at Tizona's virtual terminal.

"[Blade Form]," the Interface Device stated. Argent flashes of magical energy swept away the display terminals and reformed the raw mana into the shape of a silvery-white, thirty-centimeter-long blade, capped with a blue-white pommel jewel. Celica gripped Tizona's hilt tightly and broke into a run, barreling down the hallways as fast as she could.

The blare of the base's general alarm began to sound before Celica cleared the hallway. A computerized voice-over on the PA system crackled to life.

"_General alarm has been sounded. Sectors Three, Five and Six will be sealed in ninety seconds. General alarm has been sounded. Sectors Three..."_

Celica ignored the alarm. It was just as much as she expected, after all. The dead guards would not have gone unnoticed for long in a facility like this, but it was likely the disabled security cameras that told the guard post something was amiss.

"Tizona, Overclock!"

"[Overclock]."

Tizona's glowing jewel began to flare with blue-white energy. Arcs of lightning crawled across the blade of the Device, surging into Celica's body through the hand that gripped the weapon. She shuddered as she felt a burst of energy and strength surge into her body.

The spell amplified the operating speed of Celica's body, mind and Linker Core. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, the warbling of the base alarm becoming indistinct and distant. She felt as if she were moving at normal speed, but to any external observer it would appear as if she blazed past five times faster than any human could run.

It was a dangerous spell to use and overuse—Celica knew well the neurological and Linker Core damage she could sustain from too many consecutive Overclocks, but it was much more dangerous to be caught by NSIS Security Division mages. She was an analyst, a computer operator and a hacker. She was't even remotely helpless in a fight, but the Security Division mages and the active Field Division agents were specifically combat-type. More than one or two at a time and Celica would have a serious problem.

Even under the amplifying effects of Overclock, Celica didn't want to go toe-to-toe with a high-ranked combat mage. If that happened, she would never escape. Celica pushed her body and Linker Core harder, feeding off the insane acceleration granted by her spell. The transfer port was one of the most lightly-defended parts of the base; it was a one-way door, leading only out. Visitors to the NSIS headquarters were required to transfer in through the TSAB headquarters building in the center of the city, a few miles away.

Since nobody could enter through the port, it was not well defended. Celica knew that once the general alarm had been sounded, the base commander would begin moving mages and soldiers to that location to prevent her escape. She had to get there quickly.

Celica began to slow her run, knowing that her perception of time's flow was distorted and slowed while Overclocked. The laws of physics still played by the rules outside of the spell's effect. If she did not give herself adequate space to slow down, she would surely plow headfirst into a wall or door. She skidded to a stop less than a meter short of the door leading to the transfer port.

"Now to see if those codes are good," murmured Celica aloud. She aimed Tizona's point toward the sealed door and nodded.

"Access granted," Tizona intoned as the doors slid open soundlessly. Celica stepped through the threshold and fairly leaped onto the transfer port, initiating a dimensional jump.

"Dimensional coordinates 475F-A01D-3342-C72E. Activate transfer."

"[Translocation]."

Celica's vision exploded with brilliant multicolored light as the transfer took effect, collapsing the wave effect around her and reforming it elsewhere. The operation wasn't entirely instantaneous, and as she faded from view, she managed to catch a glimpse of a squadron of Security Division soldiers burst into the transfer port room.

* * *

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.25.0088  
_

Admiral Chrono Harlaown, Director of Naval Special Intelligence Services, frowned heavily as he tossed the datapad he had been reading to the desk. This was not what he wanted to see this early in the morning.

The dark-haired man rubbed his tired eyes and coughed once. The job had been becoming increasingly difficult as of late, the hours long and exhausting. His wife had already been expressing displeasure concerning his frequent absence. It had been made worse by the fact that Chrono could not tell her anything.

The NSIS was the dark side of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. It was a natural side effect of a military and police force that had strongly grounded itself in very specific traditions and morals. Outwardly, the TSAB presented itself to the people of the Interdimensional Administration of Free Worlds as a band of heroes, powerful mages that defended the innocent and protected the weak.

As far as that went, it was mostly true. Chrono, highly placed within the hierarchy as he was, knew the true reason. Why the TSAB recruited mages so young and why the TSAB worked so hard to instill heroic ideals and morals within their most powerful members.

It was a fail-safe. The leaders of the Administration knew very well the death and devastation even a moderately-powerful mage could wreak. The TSAB made a point to recruit them young, before they had formed their own views on the multiverse, on the concepts of good and evil.

So far it worked fairly well. Powerful mages rarely went rogue and morale within the military forces was kept quite high. But as any solution, it was a double-edged blade and carried with it other problems. The white knights of the IAFW could not participate in many missions necessary to the survival of the government and the people.

Thus the TSAB created the Naval Special Intelligence Service. Outwardly it was nothing but an intelligence-gathering division of the Naval Forces; a small unit of spies and scouts that passed along vital information to Naval command.

It was not a complete fabrication, Chrono thought idly. The NSIS _did_ complete a great many intelligence-gathering missions, but it was not the unit's true purpose. The NSIS Field Division agents, colloquially known among the unit as the "Shadows," were the wet-work specialists of the TSAB. Operations that were "darker than black" were routinely completed by the highly-trained and capable agents under Admiral Harlaown's command.

The work of a Shadow often lie considerably south of legal. Theft, extortion, torture and even murder were not uncommon accomplishments by an NSIS agent. Chrono believed that what his unit accomplished here would prevent further incidents from escalating to world-threatening proportions.

"Excuse me, Admiral," a soft, feminine voice spoke over the intercom. "Special Agent Alphine is waiting."

"Send her in," the admiral commanded in an even tone. The intercom cut off and the door leading to his office opened silently. A slight woman with long lilac-colored hair swept into the office, her stride the confident, sure gait of a highly-trained warrior. She wore the dark blue uniform skirt of the Naval Forces with opaque white hose and a pair of low heels dyed to match the uniform.

"You wanted to see me, Admiral?"

Chrono nodded and tapped a string of commands into the console hovering above his desk. The door leading to his office shut itself and locked, the latch sounding ominous in the still air.

"I have a priority assignment for you," began Chrono, fixing the young field agent with piercing stare. "This is a big one, Lutecia. This mission takes priority over all of your other active cases."

"I'd like to go over the details with you, sir," Lutecia said in a businesslike tone.

"Of course." Admiral Harlaown pressed a button on the holographic console and a new window sprang into being, displaying an NSIS personnel file and dossier, containing the individual's entire history. Chrono suppressed a grim smile when the female agent gasped in shock and recognition.

"What's going on here?" Lutecia demanded.

"It's exactly as it says," Chrono went on. "Celica Iris-Lynnfield killed three Security Division officers two days ago. We have video and magical activity records to prove it; she murdered them and then utilized the outgoing transfer port to escape. We do not know of her whereabouts."

Lutecia remained silent. Her boss wasn't finished yet, and she really had nothing to say. The woman the admiral was accusing of murder was a friend—in fact, Lutecia had been responsible for Celica Iris-Lynnfield's recruitment into the NSIS in the first place!

"I don't believe Celica would kill people without a reason," Lutecia said after a moment. She wasn't terribly surprised when the admiral nodded in agreement.

"There's something going on here that we don't yet understand," Chrono said in a low tone. "This is why I've assigned you to the case and made it your top priority. Thanks to your reputation as an agent and the weight General Yagami's word carries, we were able to keep the accusations against Celica within the unit."

"There hasn't been a wide-area arrest warrant issued?"

"No, and one will not be issued," Chrono continued. "Ordinarily I wouldn't be telling you this, but this mission is crucial to the survival of NSIS. Hayate and I have spoken at length over the past few days. While the Bureau leadership values our existence and our results, the Administrative Council doesn't."

"But the TSAB is an autonomous entity," objected Lutecia, frowning. "We aren't under the IAFW's direct authority."

"We're funded by the tax revenue from IAFW-administrated worlds," Chrono pointed out grimly. "Even if they can't directly order the Bureau to dissolve NSIS, they can bog things down in negotiations, withhold funding, delay budgetary hearings... there are many ways the Administration can dictate policy to the Bureau."

"So we're trying to keep this one quiet," Lutecia reasoned.

"Precisely. The Administrative Council would leverage Iris-Lynnfield's apparent betrayal against us, leaking information about NSIS to the media and portraying us as a political dirty-tricks squad." Chrono leaned back in his desk chair, placing his arms behind his head and stretching languidly. The day had barely begun and already he felt ready to pass out.

"Why does the Council disapprove of NSIS?" Lutecia wanted to know. Chrono blinked his burning eyes a few times to moisten them before replying.

"For various reasons, but the IAFW considers the more public mages of the TSAB and the military to be a shining example of integrity, morality and strength of character. For the Council, it's a political-relations bonanza. They can milk the heroic exploits of Captain Takamachi or any other highly-visible military mage."

"What keeps the constituents happy keeps them in office, you mean," said Lutecia in a bemused tone.

"That's about the size of it," Chrono said heavily. "The Administration Council considers NSIS to be a political embarrassment. They believe that our existence and activities will turn public opinion against them; they want to make us disappear long before that happens. The egg will be on _their_ face if a savvy reporter manages to dig up some dirt on the unit and make it appear as if the Council gave the go-ahead."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'm yesterday's hero. Nobody remembers and nobody cares. I don't have a nearly public enough position to worry too much about the muckrakers. Digging up dirt on me would be a wasted gesture. Not to mention most of the agents here at NSIS—unknowns whose considerable talents have been assiduously hidden from the rest of the citizenry."

"I see," said Lutecia quietly, but it was plain that she did not. Chrono would never have made it as far as he had within the Bureau's command structure without being at least a fair judge of character.

"Alphine, answer this question for me."

"Sir?"

"There have been only a handful of incidents where NSIS agents have gone rogue. They have done so for various reasons. Why do you believe NSIS takes a hands-off stance to the capture of these rebellious agents?"

Lutecia's eyes narrowed suspiciously and she did not immediately reply. She was smart enough to see where Chrono was leading her.

"A visible and damaging rogue element within NSIS would give the Administration Council just the excuse they need to start a hearing and an inquiry into the fitness of NSIS as a military unit of the Time-Space Administration Bureau's Dimensional Fleet," Lutecia reasoned.

"Correct. Celica Iris-Lynnfield is that visible and damaging rogue element. The video and sensor records clearly show that she murdered three Security Division officers. If the Council catches wind of this..."

"... we'll all be out of a job inside of six months," finished Lutecia grimly. "With all due respect, Admiral, there's something not right here. Why would Celica kill three security guards? Why would she leave the facility... as if she were... being chased..." Lutecia's eyes widened slightly as she made the connection.

"It doesn't make sense to me, either," the admiral said. "That's why I'm giving the mission to you and to you _only_. I don't want anyone else in NSIS on this—anyone at all, do you understand me, Alphine? Not even Agent Stormhawk."

Lutecia stiffened at the mention of her friend Victor Stormhawk, a fellow field agent who was a not-quite-but-almost sort of partner. They did not work together officially, but they were close enough. Chrono knew his agent well; Storm would have been the first person in the unit she would have gone to.

"Celica is his friend, too," Lutecia murmured quietly, displaying more of her emotions than she had since the start of the briefing. Chrono's steely gaze did not waver, but a hairline crack appeared in his stoic expression.

"I know this is hard for you, Lutecia," said Chrono in a much gentler tone of voice. Lutecia looked up at her boss, her reddish-brown eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "But this is precisely _why_ the mission is going to _you_ and not someone else. You know Celica, you care about her. You also know the hate that seethes within the Shadows when one of our own turns on us.

"I can trust you to bring her to my office—_alive_."

* * *

_Thirty-six hours earlier:  
Outer City Ruins  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.24.0088_

Celica's dove-gray eyes fluttered briefly as she struggled to pull herself from the blackness. Something had obviously gone wrong—she had been unconscious, and her head throbbed horribly. Rapidly-drying blood streaked down one side of her face from a clotting laceration on her forehead.

"Good morning, Mistress," Tizona's mechanical voice said with as much feeling as an artificial intelligence could muster. Celica couldn't see the Interface Device, assuming he had switched over to Suspend Form uncommanded in order to reduce mana consumption while she lay unconscious.

She lightly fingered her right earlobe, feeling the reassuringly-warm crystal shard that was Tizona.

"Ow, my head... what the hell happened, Tizona?"

"The transfer port was destabilized by our pursuers," the Device reported promptly. "We did not arrive at the correct dimensional coordinates. According to my calculations, we arrived with an error margin of point-eight-three meters. You struck your head on a partition, Mistress."

That explained it well enough. The Security Division soldiers chasing her must have attempted to recall her in mid-transit. The system would have been unable to lock onto her carrier signal with Tizona's auto-barrier raised, but the disruption caused by the attempted recall was enough to destabilize her exit by slightly less than a meter.

Celica was hardly a master of movement magic, so she suffered the malady known as "transfer sickness" upon utilizing a dimensional transfer. It brought disorientation, nausea and dizziness for a short period of time after utilizing movement magic.

This fact, combined with her off-target re-entry into realspace, was just enough to cause her to whack her head on the armored partition wall.

"How embarrassing," murmured Celica as she stood up, placing a fingertip against the gash in her forehead. Sure enough, the corner of the partition wall was smeared with blood. "How long was I unconscious?"

"Eleven hours, forty-seven minutes, fifteen seconds, Mistress," Tizona reported helpfully. Celica's jaw went slack in dismay. She had been unconscious for nearly half a day! She took a deep, ragged breath and forced herself to calm down. NSIS had no idea where she was. They would not think to look for her here, of all places.

Celica sighed exasperatedly, closing her eyes and drawing upon raw mana to heal her wounds. It was taxing; Celica was not a healer, but even the greenest recruit could wipe away such a minor injury.

She felt her body grow hot as the magic poured through her, the cut on her forehead tingling and itching. After a few minutes of effort, the wound was gone, leaving behind only the faintest scar.

Celica ran her fingertips across the scar and scowled. A skilled healer could have repaired that scratch in thirty seconds or less without leaving a scar. It would serve as a reminder to always raise a kinetic barrier before making a hastily-calculated dimensional transfer.

"I'm hungry," said Celica, apropos of nearly twelve hours of unconsciousness and pushing twenty hours since her last meal.

"[Plasma Cannon]."

Brilliant blue-white energy poured forth from Tizona's beam aperture, a solid column of raving magical power blasting through the thick walls of the abandoned complex. Celica held tightly onto her Device's long haft as the counter-force pushed back against her.

Tizona had radically altered his form in order to facilitate bombardment spells, lengthening the hilt into a haft slightly less than a meter long. The dagger blade that made up the bulk of Tizona's body in Blade Form was bifurcated, spreading apart a few centimeters to allow a clear field of fire for the sparkling blue crystal aperture.

The wide beam of destructive power slowly faded as the spell completed, leaving motes of blue-white light hanging in the air, falling to the ground like snow. Celica sighed softly and relaxed, Tizona's blade section drooping toward the ground.

The Device's exhaust ports flared open and vented coolant gases. Invisible magical residue still hung heavily in the air as Celica opened her eyes and examined her handiwork. She still had it apparently, even well after training and years of sitting at a desk.

"Structural integrity eighty-nine percent," Tizona noted aloud. "Targeting error rate below point-five percent. Good shooting, Mistress."

Celica chuckled slightly in spite of herself and her situation, peering through the two-meter-wide hole she had bored through several thick concrete walls sheathed with lead. Starlight shone dimly through the wide opening, leading Celica outside and into the world.

Unfortunately the edges of the walls she had blown through still gave off a significant amount of radiant heat. She would have to wait until the melted edges of the concrete cooled down.

Celica's head still throbbed from her collision with the metal partition wall. Her stomach contracted and growled pointedly. She was uncomfortable, but not quite in the realm of miserable just yet. At least she knew where she was and what she intended to do.

"Tizona, Blade Form."

"[Blade Form]," the Device complied and with a flash of blue-white, the long-hafted staff reformed itself into the shape of a large dagger. Celica gripped the hilt tightly as she started to gingerly pick her way through the holes blasted through the old concrete bunker.

NSIS was likely abuzz with activity after she killed the three Security Division officers. They would be utilizing all of their resources to track her, but she had taken special care to ensure that the destination of her transfer would not be easy to extrapolate.

The ruined section of the city on the outskirts of Cranagan would be a good place to hide for the time being. Enforcer patrols were regular and predictable; thanks to Celica's occupation, she knew the schedule for each and every patrol sent through the old city ruins. The quality of officers sent was usually fairly low—patrol duty in the ruins was considered something of a punishment.

It would give her the time she needed to analyze the information she stole. Celica knew damn well that she would wind up either dead or imprisoned for the rest of her natural life unless she managed to figure out what all of this meant.

As one of the most senior computer analysts within NSIS, there was very little of the TSAB computer network she did not have access to. During a routine analysis of new data on the long-term stability of artificial mages, Celica ran into something she should never see—an error proclaiming that her access was denied. Parts of the database had been sealed off by persons unknown, requiring security credentials above her admin-level clearance.

This was unusual. Celica had been assigned to complete the analysis of the artificial mage data stored within the system. In retrospect, Celica knew, she should have immediately reported the incident to Admiral Harlaown. But she didn't; she was curious. With Tizona's help, she circumvented the security systems—having helped to design many of them, it was not difficult.

The previously-sealed data now available, Celica opened the files and examined the information. It only took her a moment before she knew why they had been sealed so heavily. The newly-gleaned information on artificial mages stated that several of the gathered samples previously believed to be products of Project F displayed signs of having their Linker Cores artificially expressed.

This flew against everything Celica had ever read concerning artificial mages. The dividends of Project F created artificial humans from stored genetic material, selecting for high magical aptitude. There was a high degree of magical tinkering done as the embryo developed, all directed for the purpose of expressing a larger, more powerful Linker Core.

These samples were different. Magical examination and interrogation showed that they were individuals born without the benefit of magic's touch. Every one of the listed individuals had been born with a dormant Linker Core, completely without capacity.

Yet all of the recent tests showed that these individuals possessed some degree of magical potential. Further examination discovered that the Linker Cores did not become active until the subjects were in their early teens.

Celica cross-referenced this information with other matching information within the system. With Tizona's help and several hours of nerve-wracking work, Celica found something that made her blood run cold—a report from an NSIS Field Division agent who had been on Non-Administrated World #97 for a secret mission, and a detailed strategic plan in a format Celica had never seen before.

Celica scarcely had time to even begin reading the report when the computer suddenly rejected her access and forcibly logged her off. Someone was clearly trying to prevent her from uncovering this information, but it was too late for them. The data was already safely stored within Tizona's memory core.

It would not be long before her unknown opponent would attempt to silence her and bury the information. Her office doors refused to obey her command to lock and two Security Division officers entered using a maintenance override code. Both guards were armed with the standard-issue TSAB Storage Device in the form of a staff, yet both weapons were in a suspended state. It was then that Celica saw the guns.

The woman dropped into position and pointed the heavy-barreled muzzle of a large and wicked-looking rifle in Celica's direction. She didn't wait; it was clear these two intended to kill her without so much as a word. They were savvy, as well—instead of using magic, which would be noticed and recorded, they chose to use "dumb" weapons which the sensors would not pick up.

Tizona had saved her life as he had done so many times in the past. Celica recognized the weapon carried by both Security Division officers—they were known as linear rifles. They were deadly and highly illegal weapons that used small magical power cells to accelerate a tiny two-millimeter nickel-ferrous round to hypersonic velocities.

Tizona's auto-barrier could take a few shots from a linear rifle, but the weapons could dump an impressive volume of fire in short order. Celica knew this and her Device knew this. The Interface Device immediately activated Celica's Overclock ability in an uncommanded action, enabling her to take both guards out quickly.

No less than five seconds after she had downed both of her assailants, a third Security Division man, a sergeant, burst into the room, his axe-form Belkan Armed Device wreathed in red-gold flame. Celica wasn't sure if the man's appearance was unrelated, but with two dead guards on the floor and Tizona's blade dripping blood...

It was too late to turn back now.

Celica was alive—albeit injured and exhausted—and three Security Division officers were not. Explosive information was stored within her Device's memory and she didn't know who in NSIS she could trust. The only option she had was the most obvious one—escape and analyze the data. It was the only way Celica could see to prove her innocence. The compromised elements of NSIS would do their best to paint her in the most unflattering light possible.

Celica sighed as she vaulted over the last melted concrete wall and out into the broken and cracked streets of the outer city ruins. She set up her transfer to bring her fairly close to one of Cranagan's tourist districts, only a short distance from the Bureau civilian-use spaceport.

Celica intended to set up shop, at least for the time being, in the outer city ruins while she and Tizona worked to glean more from the data they stole. She estimated that it would take her at least six hours to go over all of the material in its entirety. Her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her that right now, there weren't many things more important than filling her belly.

"Tizona, Suspend Form," commanded Celica softly as the ruined buildings were exchanged for dirty yet still functional storefronts and cheap apartment complexes. "Barrier Jacket, release."

"Yes, Mistress."


	2. Chapter 2

_Outer City Ruins  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.26.0088_

Celica Iris-Lynnfield arched an eyebrow delicately at the information scrolling across her Interface Device's holographic displays. What she saw was worrisome, but what she _didn't _see was even more so.

The information she had purloined from NSIS's core computer centered around a report submitted by a Field Division agent who had been assigned on a highly-classified mission to Non-Administrated World 97—the planet known to its own people as Earth. Celica had never been to Earth herself, but from what she had learned, it was a world very similar to Midchilda in climate, gravity and habitability.

A different strain of humans lived there—whether Midchildan humans or Terran humans were the progenitors, nobody could say. Both races were very similar on a genetic level, but there were differences. Some were significant—Terran humans very rarely expressed active Linker Cores, for example. Some were minor, such as the much wider range of natural hair and eye colors seen among Midchildan stock.

It was merely groundwork for Celica, however. She had never really concerned herself with the planet much in her career—to her, as to many within the Bureau's command structure—it was just a world largely untouched by magic, watched over by the Bureau but not directly regulated by it. The TSAB typically waited for a populated world to develop widespread magical potential before they involved themselves in a world's affairs.

Thus it was exceedingly unusual that NSIS Command would authorize such a mission. Tizona had brought her up to speed on several facts she wasn't aware of; the world had been the site of two major incidents in the past thirty years. However, it had been mostly quiet over the past twenty years. Why would NSIS authorize a mission to Earth five months ago?

"There's a lot of data here," Celica murmured tiredly, rubbing her dry eyes with dusty fingertips and cursing as they started to sting. The irritation was only momentary before her body reacted to the pain, her eyes watering slightly. She turned her attention back to digesting the report.

According to the debriefing, the agent had been assigned to investigate a certain facility within a large and technologically-advanced nation. NSIS Command had reason to believe that the native population had stumbled upon an ancient and as-of-yet undiscovered Lost Logia.

The mist began to clear. Celica now understood why NSIS had authorized such a mission. Lost Logia were typically rare and very unusual, but they were almost always dangerous. If the Terran humans had discovered an active Lost Logia on their own world, it was anyone's guess what sort of damage it could cause.

Celica scanned through the debriefing report, trying to hit the highlights. The report was incredibly detailed and spanned dozens of pages. It wasn't long until she found what she was looking for. The agent had managed to penetrate the security of the facility and gain access to the Lost Logia itself.

This is where things got strange. Celica frowned as she immediately noticed the sudden lack of detail concerning the Lost Logia itself. It was almost as if another author, one who wrote in concise, truncated prose, had taken up the pen. Information concerning the artifact itself was almost wholly absent. The report went on, noting that the agent successfully destroyed the Lost Logia and escaped to return home.

"Mistress." Tizona's mechanical voice cut through to Celica's awareness. She blinked her eyes and frowned.

"What is it, Tizona?"

"This file has been altered," Tizona stated flatly. "A significant portion of the latter half of the document has been edited or deleted."

"Yeah," murmured Celica softly, "this report has been edited, probably long before the admiral and NSIS Command even knew it existed. I have a feeling that the missing or altered data is the key..."

"Shall I attempt a recovery?"

"Please," Celica ordered primly. Tizona silently complied with her command, focusing his tremendous processing power on the task at hand. The person who had doctored this report may not have been a wonderful writer, but obviously they were or had the services of a gifted document forger. NSIS had many people with such skills.

Whomever had actually doctored it, the report passed muster to both the admiral and his superiors—Celica assumed, rightly, that both her boss and the command structure of the Bureau were safe in the knowledge that the unknown Lost Logia had been destroyed.

Celica didn't believe that for a minute. She dug around in her satchel, pulling a pair of paper-wrapped energy snacks from the bag. Tearing the wrapper off of one, she bit down on the compote of granola, nuts and dried fruit. The taste wasn't the best in the world, she mused, but it was healthy and would keep her mind going until she managed to get to the bottom of this.

_It would be an embarrassing way to go if I were caught by an especially alert Enforcer patrol homing in on my stomach growling_, thought Celica idly as she chewed on her food bar. Tizona didn't need her help with something simple like this; it was only a matter of time before he managed to reconstruct the deleted entries.

"Operation complete, Mistress. I have reconstructed the original document. It is dated 03.14 MC 088 and was filed by Field Agent Abraham Stele."

Celica lost all interest in the half-eaten food bar, her gray eyes fairly glued to Tizona's main display. Text scrolled across the screen, written in Agent Stele's painfully-detailed prose. Celica bypassed the parts she had read in the doctored version—those were left unchanged.

"I thought so," murmured Celica aloud as she began to read the missing sections. In the agent's exacting detail, he described the Lost Logia down to the last inscribed rune and sculpted feature. It was obviously very ancient, even to the unscholarly eyes of a field agent.

Unfamiliar script wound all about the small artifact, sinuous characters of an unknown language that seemed to writhe and twist as the agent looked upon them. Agent Stele noted that he felt sick to his stomach just by looking at the thing. A magical scan yielded inconclusive results—the artifact appeared utterly magic-dead, yet Stele could feel the power tingling in the air around it.

The unaltered report went on to describe a very different turn of events. Agent Stele's infiltration had not gone unnoticed; a general alarm was sounded and the man was beset by a large unit of heavily-armed military personnel. Following standard TSAB procedure, Stele attempted to erect a displacement barrier and make his escape, but the presence of the Lost Logia interfered with the spell, causing it to fail.

Celica continued reading, skimming over a description of the man's short but violent battle with the local security forces. Agent Stele was outnumbered eighteen to one—he somehow managed to survive, albeit with serious wounds. His Armed Device's auto-barrier could not stand up against a withering assault from a dozen and a half automatic rifles. Stele took two in the torso, one bullet puncturing a lung, the other nearly bisecting a major artery running from the heart.

At this point the agent's descriptions became more vague and indistinct; Celica could only speculate that the man was having trouble recalling events that took place after he was wounded. Eventually all narration ended and Stele noted that he awoke within the NSIS private infirmary. The contingency spell that he had cast upon himself activated, utilizing stored movement magic to send his dying body directly to the infirmary.

There the report ended. Celica turned away from the screen and retrieved her food bar, taking an enormous bite and chewing thoughtfully. The implications were clear—Stele failed his mission, resulting in his own terrible injuries and leaving the Lost Logia untouched. For five months the humans of Earth held the artifact, undoubtedly trying their hardest to unlock its secrets.

Celica had the first few pieces of the puzzle in hand. Tizona may have been forcibly disconnected from the core network, but Celica made a habit of having her Device store local copies of various records in the event of a problem, in addition to the memory card backups made every week and stored in a locked vault within NSIS Headquarters.

"Tizona, access local records, Field Division, active agent #C-7099."

"Accessing records," the Device replied evenly. Information began to scroll across Tizona's holographic displays. The center display showed a short profile and dossier on the man who had been sent to Non-Administrated World 97. Celica scanned Agent Stele's personnel file until she found what she was looking for—the man's commanding officer.

The second piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

Celica closed the personnel file and pulled up the strategic plan data she had found along with the mission debriefing. She frowned slightly when the screen cleared and brought up a small notification box.

"The file is encrypted and password-protected," Tizona informed her.

"That much is obvious," said Celica, rolling her eyes. Her Interface Device may be equipped with a bleeding-edge AI processor, but he still tended to belabor the obvious.

"The encryption is of a type not in use by Naval Special Intelligence Service. I can attempt to reconstruct the missing data or I can attempt to brute-force crack the password."

"Don't bother," Celica said wearily. "Either method will take far too long. I have enough to start with here already."

"What will your next move be, Mistress?"

"We're going to find the next piece of the puzzle," murmured Celica, almost inaudibly. "Has NSIS filed a warrant for my capture?"

"No active warrants for Senior Analyst Celica Iris-Lynnfield exist in the Enforcer database," said Tizona helpfully. Celica frowned at the answer. Under normal circumstances, an arrest warrant would have been penned within a few hours of her flight. Sure, the contents of the warrant and the alleged crimes would be obscured from the Enforcers, but the warrant would be active and legitimate. The fact that no warrant had been issued yet gave Celica some pause.

_The admiral must be worried about potential political fallout_, reasoned Celica inwardly. _NSIS has never been a popular subject among the Administrative Council—any hint of weakness would be immediately exploited. _NSIS Command themselves likely were not aware that Celica was the person who killed three Security Division officers and escaped with highly-sensitive data.

Knowing the admiral as she did, Harlaown had likely assigned Celica's capture to a single elite agent—someone he trusted completely, someone he knew would be able to get the job done. A list of such agents was not long, but Celica chose not to dwell on who might be on her tail.

It had been several days since the incident. She would have to keep moving if she wanted to get out of this alive. Her next move was exceedingly reckless, but it was the absolute fastest route to finding out more about this strange Lost Logia and clearing her name.

"Tizona, Suspend Form," Celica commanded. The Device complied, the array of holographic displays and keyboard inputs disappearing in a flash of argent light.

* * *

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.26.0088_

Lutecia Alphine blinked her tired eyes as she reached out to shut the computer monitor off. It had only been a day, but she was already frustrated and had very little to go on. This wasn't exactly her area of expertise, either—Lutecia was not a criminal investigator, but a warrior—a summoner of prodigious power that was ill-suited to staring at computer screens for long periods of time.

The lilac-haired summoner stood up and stretched her petite frame, yawning cavernously. It was a lovely late-summer day, not too hot—definitely not the kind of day one should spend cooped up inside staring at a monitor.

She'd done all she could here. It was time to do some old-fashioned fieldwork. She sighed softly and sent a mental command to her Intelligent Device, Asclepius, waking the AI from its suspended state.

"Time to wake up, Asclepius."

The Device complied with a subtle flash of black-purple light, materializing on her hands as a pair of thin gloves bearing large deep violet emitter orbs on the back of her hands. The Device emitted a soft chime as it became active.

"Analyzing transfer port signature," Asclepius reported in a resonant masculine voice. Lutecia picked up her uniform jacket and slipped her arms into the garment, straightening her collar before she started down the hallway leading out of the complex. A car waited for her in the motor pool; Lutecia would head to the main monitoring station at Ground Forces HQ in the center of the city.

If Asclepius could analyze the transfer signature, using the data recorded at Ground Forces HQ, she may be able to track where the destination point was. Ordinarily Lutecia would consider this futile; any high-level mage worth their salt would know to make multiple short transfers to mask their destination point. The detection equipment couldn't track more than four or five transfers out.

But Lutecia had the benefit of knowing her target fairly well. Celica _was—no, she _is_ a friend,_ thought Lutecia angrily—and she knew the woman was hopelessly inept when it came to movement magic. Celica wasn't a warrior, and she wasn't a typical support mage that spent long hours honing their movement magic skills. She wouldn't have been able to teleport on her own without the assistance of a transfer port.

Instead, Celica attempted to cover her tracks by having her Device send garbage data back to the transfer port. The Security Division's attempt to recall the transfer only garbled the information further. Lutecia knew that her chances of actually tracking the woman were slim, but if she could do it, it would be at the Ground Forces HQ.

"Analysis complete," Asclepius informed her.

"Good boy," said Lutecia softly. "Save the data in memory. We're going to head to the sensor station at Ground HQ to check it out."

Lutecia smiled as her Device emitted a soft, low chime. She broke into an almost-run through the hallways, heading toward the motor pool. Asclepius was broadcasting her ID signature, so she didn't even have to stop to open the partition doors every twenty meters.

"Agent Alphine!"

Lutecia smiled at the technician as the young man opened the car door and stepped out, doffing a greasy chamois and scratching the back of his neck with an oil-stained hand.

"Everything's ready to go," said the tech, returning Lutecia's smile with one of his own.

"Will it be a problem if I leave the car at Ground Forces HQ?"

"Not at all," said the tech easily. "The car's AI core can drive it back here, no problem at all. These new models are great—they practically drive themselves!"

Suppressing a giggle at the young man's enthusiasm for his job, Lutecia nodded and swung her lithe frame down into the car's seat. The vehicles that NSIS utilized for local transport were similar to what local Enforcer units utilized. The car Lutecia pulled was unmarked, but like the Enforcer cruisers, it did have a siren and an ID key for utilizing the police lanes if she encountered heavy congestion.

"Thank you," said Lutecia warmly, sending a mental command to Asclepius to start the engine. Her Device established a link with the car's AI core and the reactor started up with a low hum. Lutecia disengaged the parking break and gripped the wheel, sending the car whirling around in a tight arc, streaking out of the open garage door.

* * *

_Infinity Library  
Time-Space Administration Main Office  
08.26.0088_

Celica nearly gasped as she walked through the entryway to the near-legendary library maintained by the Bureau. The Infinity Library contained the most extensive collection of texts, treatises and reports on anything magical within the IAFW's sphere of influence. Celica felt an overwhelming sense of awe as she stepped through the bulkhead door into the zero-gee environment that housed the massive collection of history.

The Library was an enormous hollow sphere that took up a significant portion of the dimensional space station. The walls were lined with shelves that held millions upon millions of flash memory cards, optical discs and old magnetic storage tapes—but more than any other form of storage media, the library was dominated by leather-bound books.

"Is anyone here?" Celica called loudly, expecting to hear her voice echo tremendously in the cavernous room, but a permanent dampening spell had been placed on the Library, preventing echoes from distracting the scholars who came here to study.

"Over here!"

Celica looked up, following the sound of the soft male voice until she saw him—a bespectacled man in his early thirties. Long blond hair was tied back in a neat ponytail and the man's green eyes fairly blazed with intelligence behind his wire-rimmed glasses.

Celica smiled as the man floated down toward her, carrying a stack of dusty tomes tucked under one arm. She had never met him before, but anyone who worked for the Bureau knew of the genius archaeologist and researcher Yuuno Scrya, the head librarian of the Infinity Library.

"My name is Yukari Nakamura," said Celica, introducing herself using one of the many false, but unimpeachable IDs she utilized in her line of work. "I represent the Nakamura Group, an archaeological research firm. I contacted you earlier today about looking through the archives."

"Oh, yes," said Yuuno enthusiastically. "I remember now. Something about an unusual Lost Logia your team recently discovered on one of the non-administrated worlds. I didn't expect you to be here so soon."

"That's all right," said Celica primly. "I just need to cross-check our observations _in situ_ with existing records of ancient civilizations. The artifact in question doesn't match anything that we've ever found so far. I may be premature in saying this, but I think we may have the archaeological find of the century on our hands!"

Celica's performance proved convincing. Excitement shone brightly within Yuuno's eyes as he turned around to open up a portable terminal. Celica handed him a small memory card, containing select pieces of the information stored within Tizona's memory core. It would not do for Celica to activate her Device here. Civilian researchers rarely possessed military-grade Devices.

Yuuno took the memory card and loaded it into the system. The monitor came alive with information, data scrolling across the screen complete with pictures of the strange Lost Logia that Agent Stele had run across on Non-Administrated World 97.

"Where did you say you found this?" Yuuno asked suspiciously.

"Oh, come now," Celica said, offering up a kittenish smile. "You don't really expect me to give away the Nakamura Group's secrets, now do you?" She knew she was treading on thin ice here, but if any information existed on the strange artifact, it would be here within the Library.

"Non-disclosure agreement?" Yunno guessed. Celica nodded solemnly.

"My grandfather is a secretive man, as I'm sure you know," said Celica, reasonably safe in the assumption that while Yuuno was familiar with the Nakamura Group, he was not familiar with the patriarch Nakamura's many, many children and grandchildren.

"I've seen artifacts like this in some of the ancient Belkan records," Yuuno began, pulling up a few extra windows and accessing additional information. Celica watched with interest as images of other unknown artifacts began to pop up on the screens. All were similar in physical design to the Lost Logia in the report.

"This script... it covers the artifact on almost all available empty space. I examined them for quite some time and it's not merely a pattern. Every character is different."

"The system couldn't find a match to any known language," said Yuuno apologetically. "I can run it through the computers, see if we can decipher this language. It may be a precursor language to existing modern languages."

"How long will that take?" Celica asked gingerly. "Currently we're most interested in the purpose of this strange artifact."

Celica had to be careful now. If she showed too much interest in the specific purpose of the device, cracks would begin to form in her facade as a researcher and archaeologist. The last thing she wanted him to think was that she was an artifact smuggler. It was very unlikely that Scrya knew about Celica's connection to NSIS.

"I don't know," said Yuuno grimly. "It could take days or weeks. I suspect you don't have that much time to waste, correct?"

"Time is short," replied Celica in an equally-grim tone, spinning a tall tale to secure the man's assistance. "The site is somewhat... unstable. Our crews don't know when the entire cavern will collapse. We need to complete excavation as soon as possible... but with Lost Logia... we don't know what it'll do..."

"I see your point," Yuuno replied, swallowing hard. He knew well enough what could happen if powerful Lost Logia were not handled with the utmost care. The research group absolutely needed to know how to go about the excavation process. "We'll probably need some help with this."

Celica could faintly perceive the use of thoughtspeech, but it was too indistinct for her to listen in, especially with Tizona in a suspended state. The point was rendered moot when a young and very attractive blond woman entered the Library from a separate entry port, shutting the bulkhead behind her as she kicked out into the weightless environment.

"Miss Nakamura, I'd like you to meet my assistant, Vivio Takamachi," Yuuno said with a slight smile.

Celica frowned slightly. The name was so familiar to her... but she couldn't quite place it—_oh shit, I know who she is! She's Lutecia's girlfriend._ For a long moment Celica stared into the girl's mismatched eyes—one was a startlingly vibrant green, the other a vivid ruby shade—searching for some sign of recognition. This was the first time Celica had ever met the woman, but she had no idea if Lutecia had spoken about her to Vivio.

Fortunately for Celica, there was no recognition in Vivio's eyes. The young woman bowed as gracefully as a zero-gee environment would allow and smiled brightly. Celica introduced herself using her false name and occupation, still watching the newcomer with some degree of uncertainty.

"Pleased to meet you," said Vivio softly. Celica smiled back at the woman and waited patiently while Yuuno filled her in on the research project and what exactly Celica was looking for. She listened halfheartedly, her eyes drifting open and shut—she hadn't really gotten much sleep since the day of the incident.

_Mistress, you have four hours until the limit,_ Tizona spoke into Celica's mind. Celica stiffened suddenly, her eyes snapping back open and her mind coming fully alert.

_Thank you, Tizona,_ she replied through thoughtspeech, her expression darkening visibly. Celica had instructed Tizona to keep her updated on how long she remained at the Bureau main office. The longer she was here, the more dangerous things became for her. Her cover was extremely flimsy and she knew it. The NSIS investigator that the admiral sent would be able to cross-check her known aliases against any arrival or departure records anywhere in Bureau-controlled space.

Celica was betting it all on a bingo within the next four hours. She sighed heavily and went back to work, listening intently as Yuuno and his assistant instructed her on how to find specific titles within the library.

It was going to be close.

* * *

_Ground Forces HQ  
Traffic Control/IFF Database  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.26.0088_

Lutecia's jaw dropped in shock as she stared at the records listed for all Bureau-controlled locations. The records encompassed data for transfer port usage, departures and arrivals, as well as any use of spaceport facilities. There was an enormous amount of data recorded here; the Bureau controlled hundreds of installations, bases, starports and docks. It was pure, absolute chance that Lutecia had even found any useful information within the mass at all.

There was record of an unauthorized dimensional transfer from one of the Navy transfer ports maintained at the government spaceport in Cranagan. The computer system didn't flag an alert due to some type of overflow error in the system. Lutecia tapped a few keys on the console, focusing on the transfer port log.

The screen filled with lines of code, incomprehensible fragments of words and special characters that Lutecia didn't understand at all. It was likely that whoever had utilized this transfer port intentionally tampered with the system to prevent an alert from being reported to Traffic Control. The overflow error would also prevent anyone from recalling the transfer stream, but it would not prevent someone from back-tracing it...

"Asclepius," murmured Lutecia softly. The glove-shaped Device emitted a low chime in response. The dark purple emitter shimmered with an inner violet light. Lutecia brought the Device to bear, feeling Asclepius link with the computer terminal.

"Back-trace this transfer stream," Lutecia ordered in the same soft tone.

"I obey," said Asclepius, the emitter crystal glowing much more brightly. Data streamed through the Intelligent Device's processor. Lutecia could do little more while her Device worked on the problem. She placed her head in her hands and sighed deeply.

She was tired and hungry; ever since she'd been assigned to this case, she'd spent more time on a computer than she had done on the last five missions.

Lutecia was of dynamic character—a fighter, a warrior. She wasn't built to stare at a monitor and shuffle data around. This wasn't what she signed on for when she joined NSIS, and it wasn't successfully holding her attention.

Lutecia's eyes fluttered shut as she drifted off into a light sleep. Only a short moment passed before Lutecia was awakened by the sound of a low chime.

"Operation complete; I have back-traced the transport stream," Asclepius reported. Lutecia blinked her eyes open sleepily—they felt dry and gummy. Groggily she sat up straight in the chair and sighed as Asclepius sent the data to the terminal for her to examine. What she saw jolted her wide awake.

"What the hell? She went to the Bureau main office?" Lutecia blurted aloud, unable to contain her bafflement.

Why? Why in the name of all that was holy would a fugitive—a triple-murderer, no less—not only stay within Bureau policed space, but to dive directly into the belly of the beast?

"What would possibly possess her to go to the main office—" Lutecia broke off as a thought suddenly occurred to her. It was insane, but it was the only thing that made sense. There was nothing else within that space station that Celica could possibly want.

Lutecia keyed in a string of commands and brought up additional information, sifting through the data. She pulled up the list of requests for access to the Infinity Library. This list was blessedly short—it wasn't long at all before Lutecia was able to find what she was looking for.

"Yukari Nakamura," mused Lutecia aloud. She knew the name; it was one of the several false identities that Celica had used during her duties with NSIS. Celica was a very smart woman, but time was not on her side. She had been forced to choose between her true identity, which was highly traceable by NSIS agents, or utilize one of her existing aliases. Both choices were poor, but Lutecia knew Celica had no time to forge a new set of identification documents.

Fortunately, Lutecia was more familiar with Celica than anyone else within NSIS, thanks to the dossier and info packets Admiral Harlaown had supplied. She knew all of the aliases that Celica had ever used in the line of duty. The woman was being as inconspicuous as possible; the Yukari Nakamura alias was rarely used and completely clean.

_That may have protected her from the Enforcers, but not from the Shadows,_ thought Lutecia grimly. She powered off the console and fairly leapt from her chair, sending the object clattering to the polished marble floor.

There was little time to waste. Celica would not remain at the Library for more than a few hours; every minute she spent in the Bureau main office increased the chance that she would be recaptured.

A black-violet Belkan magical circle sprang into being beneath Lutecia's feet as she began the casting of a long-distance teleportation spell. Lutecia was a summoner—movement magic was a crucial required secondary ability in order to perform her feats of conjuration.

It would be one of her major advantages in this strange game of hide-and-seek, Lutecia knew—Celica was limited to using existing transfer ports, but locking them down would do little good. The woman would simply find a way to break through whatever electronic or magical barriers blocked her path.

_Even at the main office_, thought Lutecia to herself darkly. The magic circle beneath her feet suddenly flared with bright violet light. The energy Lutecia would need to cast the long-distance teleportation spell was ready.

"Asclepius, input destination string, Interdimensional Navigation Coordinates 0000-0000-0000-0000. Time-Space Administration Bureau Main Office."

"I obey. [Ultra Long Range Transfer]."

The teleportation spell began to take effect, collapsing the space and time around her and reforming it at the same moment, only in a different location. Lutecia closed her reddish-brown eyes as the violet light flared brighter, shielding them against the radiance.

And then she was gone.

* * *

_Atrium  
Time-Space Administration Main Office  
08.26.0088_

Celica walked as calmly as she could through the vast corridors of the main office station. It was one of the largest man-made objects in the entire multiverse; Celica herself had never seen something larger, though there were rumors that the precursors, the Al'hazred, had constructed even larger space colonies.

And it was precisely that. The Bureau's main office may not have originally been intended as a space colony, but over the years since its construction, it had become exactly that. Celica had never seen one in this configuration before.

_It's very haphazard, as if it wasn't all constructed at once,_ she mused to herself as she moved in the direction of a nearby transfer port. It was very likely that it hadn't—after all, this colony was first constructed nearly a century ago when the Bureau was first founded as a closely-knit group of police and night watchmen. Even the larger government of the IAFW hadn't yet been formed at that point. It was the stability offered by the TSAB that enabled the larger political structure to flourish.

Celica brushed away her idle thoughts as she came up to the transfer port. The information she had uncovered in the Library slid another piece of the puzzle into place.

"Tizona, Interface Form."

"[Interface Form]," Tizona complied. Celica felt a slight shock as the blue-white crystal shard dangling from her right ear vanished and reappeared in a flash of argent light as the familiar multiple suspended displays and keypads.

"The previous codes used have been invalidated," said Tizona almost sadly. "NSIS has undoubtedly revoked access."

"Shit," cursed Celica aloud, but she had expected this to happen already. She was lucky enough that she managed to get more than one use out of the stolen codes. She would have to risk using her own or hack directly into the system. Without a wide-area arrest warrant, her codes were likely still valid, but she saw no reason to take chances. More likely the admiral had plied EAID into casting wide surveillance nets throughout the Bureau's computer systems.

"Begin attack, using derivatives of previously invalidated code," ordered Celica sharply. She didn't have all that much time. Her gray eyes focused on the data scrolling across the various screens. The lines flew by too rapidly for unaided human eyes to read, but Celica knew they were just attempted and rejected codes. Tizona brought to bear his awesome processing power, attemping over thirty thousand codes per second.

"Estimated time to completion: three minutes, fifty-seven seconds," Tizona reported. Celica pulled up a status window out of curiosity, smiling tightly as she noticed that Tizona was only utilizing a mere fraction of his total processing capabilities.

The Device was a one-of-a-kind, a prototype constructed by Celica herself with the assistance of one of the best Device Meisters in the Bureau, Shario Finieno. Only Unison Devices approached the level of computing power, but in Tizona, most of that power was left accessible by the wielder.

Celica watched the timer tick down and smiled broadly as the door leading to the transfer port slid open soundlessly.

"Operation complete. Total time: one minute, fifty-one seconds," reported Tizona in a tone that Celica could only call smug.

"_Good_ job, Tizona," she complimented as the Device returned to his suspended mode. She walked into the transfer port and sealed the door behind her. This would be the most dangerous part of her mission yet, Celica knew. Her destination was well outside the Bureau's jurisdiction, but due to the major incidents that had occurred on or around the planet, the Bureau kept a close eye on the place.

Celica initiated the transfer sequence and fed into the computer a string of coordinates. The machine began to emit a low hum as energies were transferred and converted. An enormous blazing Midchildan magic circle sprang into being beneath her feet, flaring brightly with barely-contained power.

The analyst shielded her eyes with her hand as the flashes built to a crescendo and enveloped her in a shroud of argent light. Slowly the light faded, the magic circle disappearing. Celica was gone, transported instantly across half of the known universe.

To a planet known as Non-Administrated World 97—Earth.


	3. Chapter 3

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.26.0088_

"Agent Stele," the old man seated behind a massive oak desk said calmly, "we have a problem."

"Sir?"

The NSIS agent was a mountain of a man. His arms were easily as thick as the average human's thigh. His skin was the deep brown of coffee. He towered nearly seven feet in height. Even under the steel-gray plating of the man's armor, his heavily-muscled body was blatantly obvious. The former heavy armor trooper held a gleaming helmet tucked under his left arm.

Stele's clean-shaven head was as massive as the rest of him, attached to a tree-trunk neck that only slightly rose from his bulky shoulders. Abraham Stele was a warrior without peer. NSIS valued the man highly; he had been recruited personally by the former director of NSIS, Admiral Gil Graham. Stele specialized in destroying heavily-fortified targets—those among the Shadows had given him a nickname: the "One-Man Army."

Stele was not a knight in the usual sense. He held a strong grasp of magic, leaning more toward spells that enhanced his own physical capabilities, rather than relying on magic-based attacks. He channeled many ancient Belkan incantations through his old-style Armed Device, Ridill, an enormous two-handed broadsword.

"Iris-Lynnfield has disappeared," the old man said sourly. "We have no idea where she has gone."

"The systems analyst who stumbled upon the reports from Earth?"

"The same," the old man continued. "She was able to hack into the main database and pull your debriefing report. I have read the woman's dossier; it is highly likely she was able to retrieve the original, undoctored report. It would be advisable for us to operate on the assumption that she knows too much."

"What do you want me to do about this?"

"Find her and kill her," the old man snapped harshly. "She could ruin everything that we have spent the past year working for!"

"That will take some time," Stele noted casually. "Iris-Lynnfield is a genius with computer systems. She will not be easy to root out through any electronic or magical means."

"You don't have any time," the old man retorted. "Admiral Harlaown assigned the apprehension of Iris-Lynnfield to Agent Lutecia Alphine. It was done very quietly—not even my mole in the admiral's office has any inkling of Alphine's current location. Fortunately, the admiral has kept Iris-Lynnfield's crimes confidential for his own reasons—but this serves us just as well."

"I have voiced my objections on that subject already," said Stele softly.

"I couldn't issue a wide-area arrest warrant for the little bitch," the old man replied acidly. "This has to stay secret, Stele. Harlaown doesn't know anything at this point. He's merely acting to protect his position. The Administrative Council doesn't approve of NSIS's existence. If the murder of three 'innocent' security officers were to be made public, certain members of the Council would pull every political dirty trick in the book to shut us down for good."

"You have a point," Stele admitted. "A full-scale investigation may yet uncover the operation. We must be cautious."

"Indeed," the old man nodded sagely. "I cannot give you any more help. You're on your own on this one, Stele. For our sakes and the sake of the people, failure is not an option."

"Yes, sir!" Stele barked, saluting smartly as he wheeled his massive frame around and walked out the door, sealing it behind him. The old man sat back in his padded leather executive chair and sighed heavily.

The strain of the past few months was starkly visible. The man's salt-and-pepper hair had begun to show much more gray than black. Dark circles were etched under the ice-blue eyes, which no longer appeared bright and hard, but rather dull.

For the first time in his sixty-seven years of life, Rear Admiral Thomas Hayes, Deputy Director, Naval Special Intelligence Service, felt old.

* * *

_Unknown location  
Non-Administrated World #97  
08.27.0088_

Celica Iris-Lynnfield opened her eyes at the soft chime of a proximity alarm. She remembered that she had asked Tizona to deploy a passive sensor net around the area while she slept to ensure that she wasn't taken unaware.

The systems analyst blinked her eyes groggily and shook her head, running a clammy hand through her red hair. Tizona chimed softly once more, louder this time. Celica came fully awake, realizing that the unknown intruder was within two hundred meters.

_Tizona, Blade Form. Cancel proximity alarm._

The Device instantly complied, flashing blue-white as raw magical energy altered his physical configuration into that of a slender, long-bladed knife. Celica was glad she chose to sleep in her Barrier Jacket, rather than remove the protective garment. It saved her a precious few seconds of time that she made good use of, creeping through the slot in the small cave she'd wedged herself into the night before.

The landscape surrounding the military facility was barren. She did not know precisely where she was in relation to social and political borders—Celica was not that studied on the governments and territories of this world—but she could easily tell that she was in a blasted wasteland.

The research facility blended in with the badlands perfectly. The entrance itself, while obviously a monstrous gate designed to give access to missile-transporting cargo trucks, had been cleverly painted to resemble the dusky-red sandstone surrounding it. There were no other obvious indications that the blasted, rocky hillside concealed the sort of research facility that Agent Stele described in his report.

Celica closed her eyes and held Tizona aloft, mentally commanding her Device to cast a detection spell.

_Tizona, Wide Area Search._

The Device complied without a word. A blue-white Midchildan circle of runes blazed into existence at Celica's feet. Tizona's blade began to glow sympathetically, pulsing with blue-white fire. Invisible threads of magical energy crawled outward, searching the surrounding area, seeking out any nearby threats.

_There is a patrol of six enemies to the southwest,_ Tizona responded in her mind. Celica frowned, not knowing quite what to expect from this world. The only experience she had ever had with someone from Non-Administrated World #97 was her former magical combat instructor.

_If all Terrans are as powerful as she is,_ thought Celica grimly, _then I'm done for._ Celica swallowed hard and turned her attention back to the detection spell. The patrol was coming closer—and they knew an intruder was near. She sneaked a glance around the rock wall and spotted them visually—Tizona was accurate, as usual.

Six men in dusty desert camouflage advanced slowly through the narrow canyons surrounding the concealed facility. They were lightly armored with only a flak jacket and appeared to be armed with a short carbine and a pistol holstered at the waist. None of the men carried heavy field packs or gear.

They were clearly sentries. Celica ducked back behind the sheer rock face and reestablished her mental connection to Tizona. This would be tricky. She had to take them all out before they could send any transmissions to the facility. At this point, they didn't know what sort of intruder they had—for all they knew, it could be a local kid or a wild animal.

If they knew it was a lone woman, Celica reasoned, they would not be so cautious.

_Tizona, Cannon Form,_ commanded Celica through the mental link. The Device complied, altering its form, lengthening and strengthening its body as the blade split and became an aperture from which magical energy would pour. Celica hefted the now much larger Tizona and braced the weapon against her shoulder. She would have to be quick.

Taking a deep breath, Celica leapt out into the main canyon, the telltale blue-white runic circle blazing beneath her feet. She aimed Tizona directly at the group of startled sentries and fired.

"[Ion Cannon]."

A seething, crackling beam of blue-white lightning surged from Tizona's aperture and blasted through the six sentries, knocking them all from their feet. Wind howled and rasped through the canyon as Tizona poured forth magical energy manifest as extremely high voltage electricity.

Almost as quickly as it started, the pulse fell off and Tizona's aperture flickered briefly. Celica dove back behind the rock wall as the startled—yet unharmed—sentries returned fire. The roar of automatic carbines drowned out the sizzling remnants of Celica's spell. Rock shards flew from the canyon wall as the sentries laid down a systematic pattern of suppression fire.

The spell Celica had cast was designed specifically to disable electronic equipment while leaving organic life mostly unharmed. Celica was impressed—the Terran soldiers were still standing after taking the blast at close range. Despite the spell's nonlethal nature, it tended to temporarily overload the target's Linker Core, rendering them unresponsive for a few moments.

_Most people from this world have dormant Linker Cores, though,_ Celica reminded herself. She crept back down the rock wall, away from the sentries. They were being cautious—likely the nature of her attack had baffled them. She suspected they were attempting to contact their headquarters at this very moment, with little success. Their communication equipment would be no more useful than a heavy paperweight at this point.

The sentries were completely cut off. The odds now slanted heavily in Ceica's favor. She climbed up a series of deep cracks in the rock face, attempting to climb up over the canyon and come around behind the sentry group.

It was a fortunate decision. From her higher vantage point, Celica could easily make out the camouflaged form of a fleeing sentry. No doubt the group's leader had ordered him to return to base and report.

"I can't let you do that," Celica mused aloud as she braced Tizona for another volley. Celica felt the Device confirm as the target was locked. At this range, with her signature long-range spell, she could not miss.

"[Pulse Lancer]," Tizona intoned aloud. Three glowing motes of magical energy coalesced in the space around Tizona's main body. Celica activated the spell, sending the motes of power surging into Tizona's aperture, then blasting forth in rapid succession.

The magical projectiles struck the man in the right leg, lower back and the back of the head. They exploded into miniature shock waves upon impact, tossing the broken body violently into the canyon wall.

"Target destroyed," Tizona confirmed. "Five remaining; they are splitting up formation."

Celica looked down from her perch on the rock wall and nearly died as a withering hail of automatic weapons fire poured over the spot she had just been standing only a moment before. She hopped backwards nimbly and frowned. They had a distinct advantage at range. Their weapons could discharge instantly, the moment they pulled the trigger. Tizona needed some time to acquire a target lock before he could fire, and his shots were far more lethal. She doubted that the sentries' armor would protect them from magic.

"Tizona, Blade Form!" Celica shouted as she rushed out from behind the rock face.

"[Blade Form]. [Protection]."

The Interface Device's blade gleamed with blue-white fire as Celica charged recklessly into the group of sentries. Their reaction times were very fast—Celica felt the impact of several high-velocity projectiles against her barrier. She knew that even with Tizona maintaining a protective field, she could not take more than a few more salvos before her defenses failed.

It would be enough.

"[Disseverment]," Tizona intoned as his blade flashed brilliantly. Celica felt her swings guided by the Device as Tizona poured his own power into assisting her complete the close-combat technique—a lightning-fast flurry of slashes and stabs that left two sentries ragged and bloody.

"[Overclock]."

The remaining sentries barely had time to blink before Celica flashed away, moving so quickly they could scarcely track her. So much magical energy flowed through her body, pouring forth, that her eyes flashed with blue-white fire.

The three sentries managed to somehow get their wits about them and laid down a withering burst of suppression fire. Celica ignored this; as long as she remained under the effects of Overclock, they would not be able to hit her.

She was in good shape and had always been a fast runner. With Tizona augmenting her physical speed, strength and stamina through magic, she darted to and fro with frightening ease.

Celica disabled the first sentry with a vicious pommel-smash to the forehead, the force of the blow sending the man into unconsciousness. Celica spun around, using the counter-force to fuel her next attack.

Her foot whirled around and slammed with bone-breaking force into the other sentry's upraised arm. The loud _snap_ of breaking bone was audible even above the whistling of wind in Celica's ears. The man's eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out from the pain.

The remaining sentry was clearly in no mood to fight the whirling devil they now faced. With a horrified scream, the young man turned around and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, dropping his carbine on the dusty ground.

"One is escaping," said Tizona aloud.

"I'm not blind," Celica snapped, glaring at her Device sidelong. "Let him go. He isn't a threat to us any longer. If they don't already know we're here, it won't take them long to find out."

"Of course. The base commander will soon wonder why their sentries are not making regular progress reports," Tizona reasoned aloud. Celica sighed heavily and trudged back behind the rock wall, crawling through a small opening into a niche between the sandstone plinths.

"I know we're on borrowed time," she said, her voice strained. The battle had taken a lot out of her.

Celica was not a warrior and she did not spend long hours in combat training, nor did she keep herself in the absolute perfect physical condition. Like most military personnel, she did exercise and maintain a fit and trim figure, but she did not have the endurance of a true combat mage.

_Using Overclock didn't help, either,_ Celica thought to herself. She took a long moment, sitting still and listening to see if there was any further response from the sentries. The two she had not killed would likely be unconscious for a good long while, but they would eventually wake up and radio for backup. She did not want to be around when that happened.

"I can't fight my way inside," murmured Celica, running a gloved fingertip across Tizona's razor-sharp edge. "It was pretty touch-and-go with the sentries. They've surely got more heavily-armed soldiers inside. From the report... damn, this is probably not the smartest idea I've ever had."

"Don't worry, mistress," Tizona admonished her. "We did not have a choice. We must follow this thread to its end or we will never be exonerated."

"That's true," she replied softly. "Tizona, can you get through the security on their computer network?"

"Of course, mistress. I will have no trouble," the Device replied. Celica could have sworn he sounded almost _smug_. It was no secret that Tizona, with his advanced AI core, had much more of an individual personality than most Intelligent Devices. As a result, Tizona often looked down upon less-advanced computer systems.

"[Interface Form]," intoned Tizona. Celica felt the tingling rush as her Device manipulated magical energy, reshaping his form from that of a long-bladed knife into a holographic computer terminal with multiple displays and input panels.

Taking one last glance out of the rock niche, Celica turned her attention to breaking into the base's security system.

* * *

_Entertainment Promenade  
Time-Space Administration Main Office  
08.27.0088_

Lutecia was in a bad mood.

She had arrived at the Bureau's main office half a day earlier, but she had been too late. Security records clearly showed that Celica had already come and gone. The woman was continually staying just one step ahead by the barest of margins, but now Lutecia had no idea where she had gone. She had not yet had a chance to question the staff of the Infinity Library—her investigation, after all, was quite secret, and it would not do to rush into these things recklessly.

Kicking the usual procession of historians, scientists and arcanists from the Library would have set off numerous red flags, especially considering Lutecia's status. She was not an Enforcer and did not have the official authority to do so in any case. Thus, Lutecia had scheduled a four-o'clock appointment with the librarian. That was still two hours away.

"Miss Alphine?"

Lutecia looked up from her late lunch—two slices of pepperoni pizza that had long since gone cold, as she had been lost in thought. The intruder on her private thoughts was a young Bureau clerk dressed in the blue uniform of the Navy. He looked only a year or so older than Lutecia herself was when she was recruited into NSIS.

"What is it?" Lutecia asked coolly, sipping at her cherry Coke through a wide straw. The drink was still cold and fizzy—she may have forgotten about her pizza, but the three empty glasses on her table spoke volumes about her love for the unusual beverage.

"Administrator Harlaown sent me to give you a message," the young man said, not bothering to identify himself. The clerk set a small encrypted memory chip on the table near Lutecia's plate.

Lutecia knew it was from the elder Harlaown, the woman who once captained the famous Bureau warship _Asura_. Lindy Harlaown now functioned as the Bureau's representative on the Administrative Council within the IAFW. Lutecia knew that she lived here, within the Bureau's enormous space station, rather than on Midchilda.

She also happened to be Chrono Harlaown's _mother_, which gave Lutecia pause. Why was her commanding officer's mother contacting her with an encrypted communique? There was nothing to do but play the message, Lutecia knew. The restaurant was nearly empty and Lutecia was seated in a secluded rear booth. This was as much privacy as she was likely to have.

"Asclepius, wake up," Lutecia murmured softly. The Intelligent Device shimmered with black-purple light as it shaped itself from raw mana, forming into a pair of gloves adorned with deep amethyst crystal.

Lutecia picked up the small memory chip and slid it into a small receptacle on the Device's main body. Asclepius shimmered with black-purple light briefly as he quickly loaded and decrypted the information.

"Video playback," Asclepius said in his deep monotone. A holographic display materialized above the crystal emitter and resolved itself into the face of Lindy Harlaown. Her troubled expression only slightly marred the beauty that hadn't been tarnished by age.

"Lutecia, I apologize for contacting you through such inconvenient channels. Normally I would simply have called you to my office, knowing you were here on station, but this is extremely sensitive information."

Lutecia frowned at that, waiting none too patiently as Lindy paused before continuing.

"I know of your mission," the recording went on. "Do not concern yourself with how; I know Chrono has tried to keep it under wraps, but I have my connections. I don't wish to see this incident explode in the Bureau's face. The Administrative Council would not hesitate to use this information against NSIS and the Bureau as a whole.

"To that end, I've decided to help you as much as I'm able. This memory chip contains telemetry data pulled from long-range sensor probes we have deployed near Non-Administrated World #97. There has been extremely unusual activity on the surface. I leave this information for you to investigate, but I warn you that time is running short. The longer this incident remains unresolved, the higher the chance that it will leak. Have Asclepius copy the encrypted telemetry data and destroy the memory chip. Good luck, Agent Alphine."

The video went black.

Lutecia sat back in the booth, some of her anger defused. She would, of course, do as Lindy asked and study the telemetry data, but the burning question was largely answered already. She was smart enough to know that "extremely unusual activity" on Earth's surface meant that someone down there was using enough magic to be detected by the long-range probes.

It was possible that the magic-user on Earth was not Celica, but the events lined up too conveniently to be a coincidence. Once Lutecia sifted through the probe data and spoke with the Library staff about the research Celica had done, Lutecia would be able to confirm with absolute certainty.

_Guess I'll finish eating first,_ thought Lutecia as she bit down on a slice of greasy food-court pizza.

* * *

_Infinity Library  
Time-Space Administration Main Office  
08.27.0088_

"I am here to see the librarian."

Vivio Takamachi frowned at the visitor. She had never seen this man before, and he did not fit the usual mold of the types of individuals who made use of the Library's resources.

The man was easily the largest human Vivio had ever seen. He towered a meter or more over her, and Vivio was not an especially short young woman. The man's shoulders were immensely wide, his chest nearly bursting from the dark-brown Midchildan Ground Forces uniform he wore. Vivio had never served in the military, but enough of her family members and friends did, so she recognized the rank insignia easily enough.

"I'm sorry, Major... ah—"

"Stele. Major Abraham Stele," the man rumbled, and to Vivio it was as if the heavens had suddenly granted voice to a mountain.

"Right. Major Stele, Dr. Scrya is currently meeting with an arcanist from the Belkan Saint Church. He has another appointment at four o'clock, but he should be available after that for an hour or two."

"Listen to me, little girl," Stele snapped harshly. "I must speak with the librarian immediately. This is nonnegotiable. If you continue to waste my time, the consequences would not be pleasant."

Vivio gulped audibly, staring up at the man in surprise. She did not believe the man was truly angry—only slightly annoyed, but she had a strong feeling that Major Stele did not think much of women. It was an unfortunate occurrence owing to Midchilda's high female-to-male ratio. For every single natural male birth, there were four females.

Vivio was very intelligent and she spent so much time working in the Library that she knew quite a lot. From the major's accent, she could tell that he had to be a first-generation descendant of a Belkan expatriate. The Belkans were once ruled by a matriarchy. In this sort of world, Vivio could understand—even sympathize—with those who felt their sex was marginalized.

But she hardly appreciated his rudeness. Vivio nodded curtly and sent a mental command to her Intelligent Device, Burning Glory, activating a communications link to Dr. Scrya.

"Yuuno, there's someone here to see you from Ground Forces," she said sullenly, anticipating his response.

"Vivio, you know I'm in a meeting right now with the arcanist from the Saint Church. Tell them to wait."

"I _did_ tell him to wait," Vivio replied quietly. "He claims that he was sent here on a mission, that it's urgent and cannot wait."

"Dr. Scrya," said Stele loudly enough for the magical communications link to transmit his words. "I must speak with you immediately concerning someone who accessed the Library database recently. We have suspicions that this person was here without authorization."

The door to the nearby office slid open and Vivio caught a glimpse of the representative from the Saint Church, a young woman whose name eluded her at the moment. Yuuno walked quickly from the office into the small reception lobby leading to the Library proper.

Adjusting his spectacles self-consciously, Yuuno tilted his head back and looked Stele directly in the eye.

"What is so important that you must interrupt me while I'm working?"

Stele looked into the man's emerald green eyes and saw no fear or uncertainty there. This slight man—less than half Stele's size and perhaps only a third his weight—was much more formidable than his stature or his chosen occupation suggested. Of course, Abraham Stele knew much of Yuuno Scrya, one of the most skilled defensive mages in the Bureau, but primarily a researcher and historian.

"This is something we must discuss privately," said Stele in a respectful tone. He made a quick gesture with his right hand and a holographic display materialized before Yuuno, displaying a signed and approved order from the Ground Forces Special Investigation Division.

"This checks out," said Yuuno, peering at the text and reading the conditions of the order, "but the Infinity Library is under the Bureau's authority, not that of the Midchildan Ground Forces. The information I am authorized to release to you will be limited as a result."

"That remains to be seen."

Yuuno ignored the man's comment and turned to Vivio. "Can you finish assisting the Saint Church's representative? I fear this will take me a while."

"Okay," Vivio replied, clearly relieved at no longer having to remain in Stele's presence. The huge warrior made her extremely uneasy and she could not figure out why. Vivio may have been relatively small, but she was not defenseless—she was a powerful mage in her own right, and she had inherited a Belkan Rare Skill from her royal ancestor, the Saint's Armor. There were very few people who could seriously injure her.

It was something else about the man—or his motivations—that profoundly disturbed her. She didn't know what it was, but something strange was going on and she had a strong feeling that Stele was involved.

* * *

_Two hours later:_

Lutecia entered the reception lobby of the Infinity Library a few minutes before four o'clock. The room was deserted, but that was not uncommon. The librarian only had a small handful of assistants and staff members to help organize and maintain the Library's nearly-limitless collection of information. Yuuno himself spent a great deal of his own time assisting visitors in their various research projects.

The lilac-haired Shadow plopped down on one of the overstuffed couches laid out in the lobby, feeling the strain of the past few days sinking into her muscles. They ached painfully, yet she felt surprisingly good considering what she had been through to this point.

The door to Yuuno's office opened and a woman dressed in the robes of the Belkan Saint Church walked out, her attention held by the young woman who walked with her. Lutecia waited silently while Vivio led the Belkan arcanist to the walkway leading back to the Atrium, watching the blonde girl with much more than passing interest.

"Cia, what are you doing here?" Vivio demanded as soon as she had ushered the arcanist out the door.

"Work," said Lutecia softly as she stood up and strode across the lobby, catching Vivio up in a warm hug. She felt the other girl take hold of her chin and Lutecia's reddish-brown eyes widened as Vivio kissed her. Lutecia closed her eyes and returned the kiss for a long moment before pulling away, but not releasing Vivio from her embrace.

"I've missed you," Vivio pouted. "You haven't called me in days. I was wondering what happened, if you were sent on another—"

"You know that's changed now," Lutecia reminded her. "The admiral doesn't send me on those kinds of missions anymore. There are... others... who handle _that_ sort of thing."

"If that's not what's going on," Vivio wondered aloud, "what are you doing here when you say it's for 'work?' And here I was hoping you came just to visit me, since we haven't seen each other in a few weeks..."

Lutecia felt her cheeks flush as she felt her girlfriend's hands settling on a distinctly lower and more sensitive portion of her anatomy than her back. She cleared her throat self-consciously and backed away, her expression faintly alarmed.

"Vi, not here," murmured Lutecia quickly.

"Aww, why not? It's been almost a month!"

"I know, Vi, and I promise I'll make it up to you when this case is concluded," said Lutecia quickly, working fast to placate Vivio before she started to pout. The promise seemed to work; Vivio's frown disappeared almost instantly.

"I'll hold you to that," the blonde girl said slyly.

"I have no doubt of that," Lutecia replied, her voice bone-dry. "In any case, I need to speak with you and Dr. Scrya about a woman who was researching specific Lost Logia of unknown origin. The name she may have given you was Yukari Nakamura."

"You too?" Vivio frowned. Lutecia glanced at her girlfriend sharply. There was a strange troubled note to Vivio's usually lyrical voice. Something strange was going on, Lutecia knew.

"What do you mean, me too?"

"There was a man here from Mid, from the Ground Forces, looking for the same woman," Vivio explained worriedly. "A major from SID, by the name of Abraham Stele."

Lutecia was a very controlled young woman. She kept a tight reign on her emotions and rarely let them boil to the surface. But Vivio's words struck her unaware, leaving her standing with her jaw hanging open, an incredulous expression on her face.

_What the hell is he doing here? Did the admiral brief NSIS Command, even though he told me that this was a black op and only he and a select few others knew about it? _

_Or... is it something else entirely?_

The only viable alternative struck Lutecia like a ton of bricks. It had to be related, somehow, to _why_ Celica had run in the first place. Celica's murder of the Security Division officers had been glossed over and covered up within NSIS; the larger Navy itself knew nothing of the deaths.

If someone else—specifically Abraham Stele, a Field Division agent much like Lutecia herself—was searching for Celica...

_Damn._

"Cia? Ciiii-a? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, Vi, I'm fine," Lutecia said, forcing a smile to comfort her lover. Vivio was not stupid, however, and the gesture only irritated her.

"You're _not_ fine. I know that look. Something weird is going on, Cia," Vivio said, glancing at the door leading to the Library proper where Yuuno was busy cataloging new acquisitions between appointments. "When I mentioned Major Stele's name, you looked like you were going to faint. Now I want you to tell me what the hell's going on, and I don't want you to lie to me."

"I don't know what's going on," Lutecia said grimly. "That's the honest truth. That man, Abraham Stele, is not with Ground Forces SID. He's NSIS."

"Cia..."

"You can't tell anybody what I'm telling you," Lutecia murmured. "I've already told you entirely too much as it is. The admiral would kill me if he knew I was letting this information leak... but... you deserve to know."

"If you don't want to tell—"

"I wouldn't tell you if I didn't want to," interrupted Lutecia with a small smile. "A few days ago, one of our agents killed three Security Division officers for reasons unknown, then disappeared. Chrono asked me to find this agent and bring her back alive.

"This whole thing is being kept _very_ secret, because the Administrative Council doesn't like NSIS and would want to use the whole incident as leverage to force the unit to disband and bring the entire Bureau more tightly under their control."

"NSIS disbanding... is that really such a bad thing?" Vivio asked quietly.

"I don't know anymore," replied Lutecia bitterly. "Before, when the most difficult—most _violent—_missions were being assigned to me alone, I thought I knew. I was performing an essential function, protecting the people of Midchilda and the IAFW from threats that lurked in the shadows, outside of the normal military's purview. A lot has happened since then."

"Do you want to keep doing this kind of work, Cia?"

"I can't answer that question right now," Lutecia said sadly. "This case—it's very important to me. The agent being accused is... a very close friend. I recruited her myself, and in those early years when she was still learning the ropes, I took her under my wing, helped her adjust to the job."

_And Storm... if he finds out... I don't know what he'd do,_ added Lutecia silently.

"I'll wait for you, then," said Vivio gently. "I'll wait until this case is finished. Then you can answer my question."

"It's a deal."


	4. Chapter 4

_Unknown location  
Non-Administrated World #97  
08.27.0088_

"Administrative access granted," Tizona's metallic voice echoed softly in the small sandstone niche.

Celica's gray eyes fluttered open slowly. She blinked a few times—the small cave was pitch-black save for the soft glow of Tizona's multiple holo displays. She had fallen asleep during her Device's takeover of the base's security systems. Night had already fallen, and yet the enemy had not located her yet. Very strange. Celica was immediately on her guard. The sentries she did not kill would have either been rescued or returned to base on their own. The facility ought to have been lit up and on full alert.

_Perhaps the nature of this place is such that they cannot risk discovery, even in the event of a possible incursion._

It had taken Tizona longer than either had imagined to break into the base's security systems. Celica underestimated their computer technology, a mistake she wouldn't likely make again. The red-haired woman cleared her bleary eyes and came fully awake, rooting around in her rucksack for a preserved food bar. They weren't the most appetizing things in the world, but it was important to keep her strength up.

_I'll be fighting again before this is all over,_ she reminded herself as she tore the wrapper open and took a small bite. She made a face, chewing several times before swallowing.

"I wish I had pizza and beer," she muttered aloud as she turned her attention to the new windows open on Tizona's displays. Now that she had full and unrestricted access to their security systems, it would be a simple matter to render the base's defenses impotent and seal off the complex.

"Reprogramming defense turrets. Sealing Sections A through K. Opening L Section service entrance," Tizona said. Celica watched through the security camera feeds as the flashing alert sirens died. Sections of corridor suddenly popped open, revealing hidden gun turrets. Doors began to slam shut throughout the facility, sealing off certain sections while leaving a clear path to the artifact conservation chamber.

Then the whole scene went to hell. Celica looked on dispassionately as the defense turrets began to fire indiscriminately, gunning down the very people they were designed and constructed to protect. White-coated lab technicians and researchers were cut down as they tried to flee. Blood spattered the immaculate white floors and walls.

"Enemy forces are resisting," Tizona noted, bringing a new window to Celica's attention. She watched as a group of well-armed soldiers systematically destroyed the defense turrets in B Section, using what appeared to be automatic carbines with grenade launcher attachments. The men were well-organized and seemed to exhibit no signs of panic.

"Cameras in A Section have been disabled," Tizona said; Celica could almost detect a note of anger in his artificial voice. "I am picking up some unusual readings within the base."

"What sort of readings?"

"Magical energy signatures of an unknown type," Tizona reported ominously. "The signature has many similarities to Mid-type, but it has been altered. There is no indication of Mid-type core logic, only energy readings consistent with Mid-type mages."

Celica said nothing, only digesting what Tizona had reported. The presence of magical energy signatures in the base was not unexpected—after all, this facility held the Lost Logia detailed in Stele's debriefing report. It made sense that the humans of Earth had found other bits and pieces of magical technology.

But to find readings consistent with active Linker Cores, using a system fundamentally based on Midchildan arcana, yet without any sort of core logic...

Celica shook her head violently, as if she were trying to clear her thoughts by rattling her brain around in her skull. _Of course_ the humans here would have found some way to _use_ this technology they had been studying for so long. She pulled up the readings from A Section and examined them more closely.

Without core logic, Celica was not even sure how they were utilizing magical energy. She didn't understand the concept well enough—she was a computer specialist, after all, not a Device Meister. But Tizona's readings were not in error; there were at least twelve individual contacts within A Section, each one a blazingly bright active Linker Core.

"Defense turrets in A Section have been destroyed," Tizona reported, bringing additional information to the surface. "Shutters to B Section have been breached. The unknown force is attempting to retake the base; I am locking all internal workstations and access points."

"That won't hold them for long," murmured Celica grimly. "I'm sure they have a back door in place for just such an occurrence."

"I will not make it easy for them," promised Tizona as the static-filled windows disappeared. Celica watched as her Device redoubled his efforts. The resource monitor showed that he still had plenty of processing power left to spare, however—the enemy would not have an easy time of it.

"How many are left alive in there?"

"Twelve unknown contacts in the blackout section. Sixteen known contacts accounted for, sealed in B Section through K Section. Five known contacts in B Section are not accounted for."

"Damn, they're putting all their effort into releasing the scientists," Celica observed. The window showing the B Section camera flashed briefly as Tizona brought it to her attention, and she got her first good look at her new foe.

She couldn't tell if the figure was a man or a woman; the individual was covered from head to toe in a heavy charcoal-black armor constructed of some composite material. Flashing emitters studded the heavy shoulder plates; Celica could barely make out a backpack consisting of two transparent tubes filled with a glowing green-white substance. The armor seemed to glow and flicker, arcs of greenish lighting licking from the emitters to the armor plate itself.

The dark-armored figure shouldered a heavy rifle with a wide bore and aimed it directly at the camera. Celica was able to see that a thick umbilical ran from the glowing backpack apparatus into the main body of the weapon. The gun's barrel flashed with brilliant green-white as the image was suddenly replaced with static.

_So they're the source of the strange readings_, Celica thought. Given enough time, they would take back the entire base and Celica would be unable to complete her objective. She was not foolish enough to rush inside the facility without a plan, however.

Celica would have to decide quickly. If she waited too long, they would breach all sections and be able to secure her intended point of entry, the L Section service entrance. If she left her protected location now, though, the enemy commander would undoubtedly send some of the dark-armored soldiers to eliminate her.

What she needed was a distraction of some type—

"Hold," an angry female voice said loudly from behind her. "Celica Iris-Lynnfield, you are under arrest for the murder of three Security Division officers. I have orders from Admiral Harlaown to bring you in alive and unharmed. Deactivate your Device, remove your Barrier Jacket and surrender peacefully or I will force compliance."

Celica stiffened at the sound of that voice, a voice that was as familiar to her as any could possibly be.

The voice of a dear friend.

"Alphine," said Celica in a dry tone, not moving, not taking her eyes off Tizona's displays. "What brings you to this part of the universe?"

* * *

_Ten minutes earlier:_

Lutecia opened her eyes and blinked several times, trying to adjust her vision to the darkness around her. Her dimensional transfer had been exceptionally accurate; she ended up less than two hundred meters from where her target lay, completely absorbed in her electronic assault of the secret research facility.

She would be distracted by her task; even with Tizona's help, and even though Celica had the technological advantage, it would be a difficult task to maintain her control. Lutecia would have the upper hand.

_Celica knows the score,_ thought Lutecia darkly as she carefully walked toward the small sandstone niche where the gray-eyed Shadow was holed up. Asclepius granted her eyes the ability to cut through the complex camouflage barrier that Celica had set up to confound the Terrans. She could clearly see the woman, even from this distance, her charcoal-colored Barrier Jacket scuffed and dirty.

It hadn't been easy for her. Lutecia didn't know what was driving the woman so hard, but she intended to find out, even if she had to beat it out of her.

"Garyuu," Lutecia said softly. "This is an important reunion. Please ensure we are not interrupted."

The black-armored summon nodded silently and flashed into the shadows between the sandstone valleys and gorges. Lutecia was not worried about her ever-present partner; Garyuu was more than a match for any ten of these magic-dead humans, and they had problems of their own at the moment.

Lutecia took her time, walking slowly toward Celica's hiding place. This was it—the frantic mission was almost over, her quarry in sight. The thought _should_ have filled her with an elated sense of relief that it was finally over, but Lutecia felt only weary. Her legs were rubbery and she felt lightheaded.

She had the strong feeling that this was just the beginning.

Lutecia stopped ten meters from the small hole in the rocks, eroded by the wind and grit blown about. Celica did not even turn, but Lutecia knew the other woman was aware she was no longer alone.

It didn't matter. She would say what she had to say.

"Hold. Celica Iris-Lynnfield, you are under arrest for the murder of three Security Division officers. I have orders from Admiral Harlaown to bring you in alive and unharmed. Deactivate your Device, remove your Barrier Jacket and surrender peacefully or I will force compliance."

"Alphine," Celica replied dryly, not bothering to turn around. "What brings you to this part of the universe?"

"Celica..."

"I don't have anything to say to you, Alphine," Celica deadpanned. "You showed up entirely too soon—I guess I didn't obscure my trail as well as I thought."

Lutecia ignored the comment. "If you wish to speak on behalf of your actions, the Bureau will—"

"I know better than that, Lutecia," Celica snapped coldly. "We aren't the Bureau. We're Shadows. We don't listen to our targets—our _enemies_. We don't arrest them. We _kill_ them. You, of all people, should know this better than anyone."

Lutecia was taken aback at the severity of the response. The words stung profoundly. Emotions poured through Lutecia's mind. Celica's harshly-spoken words had their own dark sort of magic, summoning the ghosts of those Lutecia had murdered as a Shadow.

And there was the fact that Celica had referred to her by her first name! The older woman had never, not even once, called Lutecia by her first name in the seven years they'd known each other.

Lutecia's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am authorized to use lethal force—"

Celica finally turned around, standing up and stretching her arms high above her head. The myriad monitors and displays flashed away in a brilliant blue-white glow, leaving the Shadow holding the long-bladed dagger, Tizona, in her right hand.

When she finally spoke, the voice sounded not angry, but bone-weary, exhausted beyond all limits of human endurance. It was a voice that Lutecia had never heard from Celica's lips—a voice that sounded so very much like her own.

"At least this way, my death will come from the hand of a friend."

* * *

_Unknown location  
Non-Administrated World #97  
08.28.0088_

"[Pulse Lancer]," Tizona barked harshly. Blue-white globes of magical force shimmered in the air and slashed outward at blinding speed. Celica watched as the shots tracked their target and slammed into Lutecia's body. The projectiles detonated into small shockwaves—but the brunt of the attack was absorbed by the telltale Belkan sigil of the summoner's shielding spell.

Celica knew she was outmatched and outgunned. For some reason she did not wholly understand, Lutecia had not involved Garyuu in this fight. If the black-armored insect summon had been called in, Celica would not have lasted more than five minutes.

_Because it's personal,_ thought Celica belatedly as she awkwardly dodged a barrage of black-purple beams of force. Fortunately for her, Lutecia's offensive strength lie mostly in the power of her summons. Her direct-fire magic was actually less powerful than Celica's own, but as a trained and highly-experienced combat mage, Lutecia's endurance and magical capacity was much higher.

Even with less-destructive weapons, Lutecia _would_ outlast her, if she allowed it. Celica's only hope was to put everything she had into a single strike that would blast through the other woman's meager defenses. Summoners were vulnerable without their summons nearby—and Lutecia had intentionally thrown that advantage by sending Garyuu away.

Celica knew better, though. Lutecia did not have absolute control over her summons—especially not Garyuu. If Celica managed to wound Lutecia, Garyuu would intervene, disobeying his master's orders to save her life.

It was after midnight. The battle had gone on for only ten minutes, yet to Celica it felt as if she had been fighting for hours. She had not yet completely recovered from battling the sentries the previous day. And now she was facing Lutecia Alphine, the number-three most powerful mage in the entire Field Division, only losing out to the director himself... and Abraham Stele.

Celica had spoken the truth earlier. If she had to die today, she would rather be killed by the hand of a friend than the hand of the betrayer.

"[Protection]," Tizona said suddenly as a blue-white dome of force coalesced in the air around her, a split-second before a barrage of glowing beams splashed against the shield.

"Thanks," bit off Celica, nodding to her Device. She had to keep her head in the game. Lutecia hadn't even hit her stride yet.

_We're going to have to get close,_ Celica said mentally to her Device. Tizona already knew this well—even as low as Lutecia's defenses were, a well-known fact that was oft-lamented among other Shadows that they worked with, Lutecia would be able to defend herself reasonably well from any bombardment that Celica could cast.

The only hope Celica had to save herself from Lutecia would be to breach the summoner's defensive perimeter and hit her with an overpowering technique designed to breach all defenses and strike the target directly. It was a risky maneuver against most Mid mages and _all_ Belkan knights, but Lutecia's close-combat abilities were poor.

_She relies too heavily on Garyuu to keep potential threats at arm's length,_ Celica thought.

It would be difficult enough just getting that close. Celica ran laterally across the top of the sandstone ridge just as Lutecia popped up out of the gorge she had taken cover in, Asclepius glowing fiercly as the summoner cast a withering barrage of magical projectiles.

Tizona's protective spell wasn't enough to withstand the onslaught. The magical barrier shattered like glass and several black-purple bolts of force slammed into Celica's torso and legs, exploding with a blinding flash.

Her Barrier Jacket managed to absorb the brunt of the attack, but not all of it. She staggered, stunned by the hammer blows, her vision obscured by the magical detonation. It would be less than seconds before Lutecia would strike the finishing blow and send Celica into unconsciousness.

Without any other options, Tizona protected his wielder as best he could.

"[Overclock]."

Celica gasped as a blinding flash of pain exploded behind her eyes, but she shunted the pain aside, gritting her teeth viciously, knowing that she would be lost if she wasted this chance. It was too soon; she was too overextended, and by the gods, it _hurt!_

Celica's Overclock ability was a double-edged sword. The spell was capable of amplifying her physical and magical power far beyond her normal limitations, but there was a price. It used a tremendous amount of magical energy, more than Celica's nominal capacity could hold. It placed incredible strain on her body and her Linker Core.

Even in prime physical condition, fresh and rested and with her Linker Core at full capacity, Celica could only cast Overclock three times without any significant danger to herself.

_Tizona is a computer, after all. He would have calculated everything, made the decision with utter rationality. And he's given me the chance I need to save myself._

Time seemed to be mired in thick mud. The flash of light from Lutecia's energy bolt spell hung in the air like mist. Celica _moved_, as fast as her weakened and injured legs could carry her, and under the effects of Overclock, Lutecia would be unable to hit her before she closed into melee.

Lutecia's eyes widened in disbelief ever-so-slowly as she fired another barrage of magical projectiles—Celica watched from the corner of her eye as they leisurely flew through the air, seemingly drifting like feathers, on target with the spot she had just been a split second before—

Celica raised Tizona up above her head in a two-handed grip, holding the dagger like a sword. The blade began to glow fiercely with argent light, too bright to focus on. The glow began to extend, lengthening the blade considerably as Celica performed her most deadly technique.

"[Vertical Cleave]," Tizona intoned, his artificial voice sounding a death knell. Celica felt the Device infuse her slender arms with superhuman strength, already amplified through Overclock, as the blade flashed downward, aimed directly at Lutecia's head.

Celica felt the impact as a blinding explosion of magical energy engulfed them both. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her cheeks, not only from the painful brilliance.

Her head exploded into agonizing pain as she felt—she _felt_ the damage as her Linker Core overloaded. Blue-white arcs of magic energy crawled over her body, her muscles clenching in uncontrollable spasms. Black tendrils edged at the corner of her vision, under the red-tinged glow that burned _through_ her eyelids. She fell backwards, losing her grip on Tizona, only dimly registering the impact as she hit hard sandstone.

Celica opened her eyes, barely cognizant of her surroundings, but she still had enough of her wits about her to confirm—

"Fuck," she mumbled weakly.

Tizona's blade, no longer glowing, was imbedded in a pauldron of crumbled black carapace. The blow that should have sundered Lutecia's defenses and struck her directly instead had badly damaged Garyuu's left arm.

The insect summon stared at her dispassionately, seemingly oblivious to his ruined left arm and the bladelike Device imbedded in the shattered chitinous armor. He did not move, but Celica could feel the murderous intent beneath the alien gaze.

Lutecia stepped out from behind her summoned guardian. Celica kept her gray eyes focused on the woman as she stopped and, as gently as she could, removed Tizona from Garyuu's shoulder, dropping the drained Device to the ground.

The black-armored insect creature made no sound and continued to stand guard as Lutecia knelt down beside Celica's prone body. The red-haired mage desperately tried to move, but her body would not obey her mind's commands. Her eyes started to droop as the black mist nibbled further at her vision.

"Celica, talk to me," Lutecia cried urgently, wiping blood from Celica's nose with her fingers. "Celica? Celica, keep your eyes open. Shit, Celica, don't die on me. Come on, girl, keep those eyes open!"

It was then that Celica's vision cleared enough to see the tears streaming from Lutecia's eyes. It was the last thing she saw before the darkness overtook her.

* * *

Celica opened her eyes slowly and saw the starry sky—an unfamiliar sky. She was not on Midchilda.

_Then, where the fuck am I?_

"You're awake," a familiar voice said. Celica could hear the relief flooding that voice. She tried to turn her head, to focus on the voice, but she found she was incapable of movement.

"How long was I out?" Celica's vision cleared a bit more and saw the unsmiling face of her friend above her. The lilac-haired summoner cradled Celica's head on her lap, gently moving it until the two women made eye contact.

"Only about twenty or thirty minutes," Lutecia replied in a worried tone. She glanced about quickly, knowing very well that the two of them were in a lot of danger. "The fight attracted a lot of attention. They're out looking for us now."

"Where did we... ?"

"After you lost consciousness, I teleported us some distance from the base. We're about ten kilometers away. I put up a phase barrier, so they shouldn't be able to find us without magical assistance."

Celica didn't reply, but instead tried to sit up, levering her body upward. Her muscles refused to correctly obey her mind's commands, however, and she succeeded in doing nothing but planting her face directly into Lutecia's chest.

"Don't try to move," Lutecia Alphine said, giggling slightly as she lowered Celica's head back into her lap.

"I feel awful," said Celica weakly.

"Overloading your Linker Core will do that," Lutecia agreed in a dry tone, but the relief—and the anger—was obvious in her voice and her eyes. "I can't believe you did something like that, Celica. It could have killed you."

"I seem to recall you were doing your best to take care of that little chore yourself," Celica replied slowly.

"_Damn_ it, Celica, you know I'd never—"

"So here I am, helpless and defeated," Celica cut her off. "I can't even move my head, much less fight or run away. You've got me now, slap the cuffs on me and take me back to headquarters, where I'll have some sort of accident—"

"Shut up, Celica," Lutecia said sharply. "You could have just _told_ me. I would have given you the benefit of the doubt. I would have _believed_ you."

"What are you—?"

"Talking about? Your Device told me everything," Lutecia explained, "while _you_ were unconscious and Asclepius was hard at work trying to keep your Linker Core from collapsing. Which he was successful at, by the way, so you should thank him. Are you _insane_, Celica? You should have just _told_ me. I would have helped you!"

"I had no way of knowing—"

"Where my loyalties lie?" Lutecia said bitterly. "Come on, you know me _better_ than that. Why didn't you just _tell_ me?"

"I didn't have time," Celica said, licking her dry and cracked lips. "Once I stumbled across the doctored reports and the data regarding this Lost Logia, I was locked out of the system. It wasn't long before two Security Division officers armed with linear rifles broke into my office and tried to kill me. They were unsuccessful, and I had to escape before they sent more after me."

"There were three dead," Lutecia noted coolly. Celica grimaced at that observation, knowing there was no real way around it.

"The third man attacked me as I left the room," Celica explained. "He was a mage, a Belkan adept with an Armed Device. At the time I thought he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time..."

"But you don't now?"

"No," Celica said, feebly nodding her head in Tizona's direction. It was an improvement; she could move _something_ now. "I found the man's name in the data I took. He was put there as insurance, in the event the first two assassins failed. Whoever sent them underestimated my combat abilities, but just barely."

"Your 'combat abilities,' specifically your grasp of tactics and your own limitations, leave much to be desired," said Lutecia dryly. "What are you going to do now, Celica?"

"Too much time has passed now," replied Celica glumly. "The base is no longer under my control. I don't know, Alphine. I just..."

"You don't have a backup plan? The mistress of contingencies herself, and you don't have a Plan B?" Lutecia demanded incredulously.

Celica's expression shifted from grim to sheepish as she looked away self-consciously. "Well, I _have_ been running for my life and not getting much sleep lately," she offered lamely. "Yes, I do have a Plan B. But there's a catch."

"What catch?" Lutecia asked suspiciously.

Celica told her.

"This is insane. _You_ are insane," Lutecia muttered, exasperated. She threw her hands up in the air and sighed theatrically. "If Storm knew anything about this crazy plan of yours, he'd kill you, then kill _me_ for daring to even entertain such a thought! You're half-dead and you can't even move!"

"I'll be fine in a little while," Celica said truthfully. Her Linker Core had overloaded, but that rarely caused permanent physical damage. The gray-eyed computer genius stared up at her friend, silently pleading.

"Oh, all right," said Lutecia disgustedly. "But if you get yourself killed I'll never forgive you. Close your eyes and try to relax. This probably isn't going to feel very good."

Celica followed the field agent's instructions, shutting her eyes and bracing herself for the pain to come. Most magically-aided healing was a gradual process, but the Shadows had developed a much-accelerated method of healing wounds and repairing Linker Core damage, designed to be used in the heat of combat where time was a luxury they just didn't have.

There was a price, though. Such rapid healing caused tremendous pain for the recipient, and the spell itself consumed enormous amounts of energy. Fortunately for Celica's sake, Lutecia's Linker Core capacity was much greater than that of an average mage. Summoners had to constantly expend energy in order to anchor their summons to this dimension—much of the training summoners endured was focused on expanding their magical energy capacity.

Asclepius glowed fiercely with black-violet light as the spell took effect, sending searing bolts of healing energy into Celica's prone body. Her back arched suddenly as she grunted in agony, clenching her teeth as every muscle in her body spasmed, every nerve blossoming into blinding pain.

And just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Celica's body went limp for only a moment before she sat up, slightly unsteadily, but her muscles were functional once again. She felt a surge of vitality and strength course through her body.

"I'm going to stand up," Celica announced, nimbly jumping to her feet. The spell had fully taken effect with no side-effects.

"Try using magic," Lutecia suggested.

Celica nodded and closed her eyes, focusing her mind on the formless distortion of reality within her—the metaphysical "organ" that functioned as a conduit to channel a mage's power. Her Linker Core felt normal again, no longer wildly oscillating with uncontrollable surges.

"Pulse Lancer," Celica declared, and a single blue-white bullet of force appeared in front of her outstretched hand, streaking through the air and slamming into a nearby rock with shattering force. Shards of fractured stone scattered across the hard-packed earth of the badlands.

"Looks like it worked," Lutecia said, relief evident in her tone. Celica nodded briskly as she bent down to pick Tizona up from the ground where Lutecia had left the Device. "Are you really okay with this, Celica? I'm not going to be able to help with the fighting very much, and you pretty much destroyed Garyuu's left arm—"

Celica grimaced at the comment. "I'm sorry about that."

Lutecia shrugged. "He'll be fine in a few days, but it puts us at a disadvantage now."

"What about Jiraio? Can't you call him to help, as well?"

"Not after that healing spell," Lutecia said grimly. "The material summon I'm going to use to steal the Lost Logia isn't exactly an easy casting, either. It's going to be you and Garyuu against whatever defenses they've managed to put back together since your electronic assault ended."

"It's going to work, Alphine," Celica said firmly. "This is the best chance we've got to get out of this one alive..."

"... and find out what's really going on in NSIS," finished Lutecia in an equally-firm tone. "All right, Celica, I'm going along with this insanity. I don't know why, maybe I'm just as crazy as you, but... let's do this."

Celica nodded and offered her hand, which Lutecia clasped in a strong grip. At the same moment, Lutecia felt a strange chill run down her spine. A slight reverberation shuddered through her mind.

"The phase barrier has been dispelled," Tizona announced ominously. Celica and Lutecia looked at each other in astonishment. There shouldn't have been anyone anywhere near them that could have dispelled—

"Look," said Lutecia in a small voice, pointing toward the sky. Celica followed her gesture and saw five points of glowing reddish light and the familiar contrail of a mage in aerial flight.

"Magical energy signatures detected," Asclepius announced. "Configuration unknown. Core logic not detected. Contacts are not of Midchildan or Belkan origin."

"It doesn't look like we're going to get out of this one so easily, after all," Celica said in a deadpan tone. "They're incoming—get ready, Alphine!"

"Garyuu!" Lutecia snapped suddenly. With a flash of movement, the insect guardian returned to his mistress's side, his left arm still badly damaged and hanging useless from his shoulder, but the injury didn't seem to slow him in the slightest.

"Garyuu will close to melee," Lutecia said, outlining a tactical plan. "I will coordinate the battle and our defenses. You focus on bombardment."

"Got it," Celica replied, stepping back until she was about five meters behind Lutecia. The red-haired woman glanced at Tizona and nodded.

"[Cannon Form]."

Celica braced the transformed Tizona against her shoulder as the incoming aerial units closed in. They were within visual contact range now—Celica could clearly see that they were the same strange armored units she had seen during her takeover of the base's security systems.

But now they were _flying_.

"Asclepius," Lutecia implored softly. The Belkan magic circle sprang into being under her feet, the ancient sigils glowing with barely-contained power.

"[Shadow Shield]," Asclepius responded. A black-purple dome of shadowy energy flared into being, covering both Lutecia and Celica. Lutecia's defensive abilities were about on par with Celica's, but her endurance was vastly higher. She would be able to hold this level of defense even through a protracted battle.

"They're within range," Celica shouted. "Opening fire!"

"[Ion Cannon]," Tizona intoned as Celica braced the weapon against her shoulder. The Interface Device's aperture flared brightly as a wide beam of crackling blue-white lightning tore across the sky, streaking toward the incoming aerial units.

Celica's aim was true, but the enemy units reacted quickly and scattered, breaking formation. The disabling beam struck only one target, but the result was exactly what Celica had hoped for and expected.

Arcs of blue-white energy played across the unit's armor and shorted out its systems. The corona of reddish energy flickered once and failed outright, sending the aerial trooper falling from the sky. Celica watched as the trooper calmly deployed an emergency parachute, slowing his fall enough to avoid serious injury upon impact with the ground.

"That's one out of the fight," Celica said in a satsified tone. With the power subsystems fried by her attack, he would be unable to move with the armor no longer supporting its own tremendous weight.

"Hit them again," Lutecia commanded. "They're almost within firing range."

Celica lifted Tizona and loosed a second shot, sending the beam of overloading energy directly on-target. The result was not what she expected this time, however. The energy seemed to sheer off the unit's armor like water.

"They've adapted their defenses to compensate!" Celica cried, switching Tizona's firing mode to a more physically-damaging method of attack. The enemy units were then within firing range, raising their heavy-barreled weapons and loosing fast-moving blobs of a glowing liquid-like substance.

"They're firing bolts of raw magic," Lutecia noted. "Garyuu, now!"

Celica waited and watched as the insect guardian suddenly appeared in the air between two of the armored aerial units. Even with one destroyed arm, the alien creature moved with an impossible fluidity and speed.

His right arm flashed as a long, razor-sharp blade extended and slashed at the nearest soldier, knocking the unit into a drunken loop. Garyuu pressed the immediate advantage of surprise, swooping in for the kill. The enemy soldier was far from helpless, however, firing bolts of molten magic as he struggled to regain control over his flight.

Garyuu dodged the blasts without trouble and slashed viciously, severing the tube connecting the soldier's rifle to the power plant backpack. Glowing fluid leaked for a moment before the armor's internal systems shut the valve off. The soldier changed direction, discarding his useless weapon. They had planned for such an occurrence, however, and the soldier drew a machine pistol from a hidden compartment, blasting away at the black-armored insect guardian.

The ordinary bullets had little effect on Garyuu, however, and the terribly sharp wrist blade slashed through ceramic and carbon fiber armor, rending the flesh and bone beneath.

"Energy levels at 94.9%. A firing lock is canceled," Tizona reported helpfully.

Celica's field of fire was clear with Garyuu chasing after his own prey. Lutecia laid a withering barrage of suppression fire, filling the air with black-purple bullets of magical force to restrict the movements of the remaining three aerial units.

"[Plasma Cannon]."

Tizona's aperture burst into brilliant blue-white fire. The wide beam of destructive magical energy surged outward, blasting through the tight formation.

Two of the three enemy units were struck with the full force of the attack, their armor cracking and shattering from the force of the blast. They fell from the sky, swooping down in a controlled crash-landing to take cover in a nearby sandstone gorge.

_They're out of the sky,_ thought Celica with satisfaction, _but they're likely not out of the fight just yet._

The third unit was struck a glancing blow, sending him spiraling through the air uncontrollably. Lutecia suddenly shifted from suppression fire to a focused barrage, slamming dozens upon dozens of black-purple bullets of force into the aerial unit as he struggled to regain control.

Each successive strike blasted away chunks of armor, but Celica was unsure whether or not the attacks would actually take him out. The armor was obviously charged with magical energy much in the same way a Barrier Jacket was, else it would not have defended so well against her Ion Cannon.

Even if Lutecia's shots weren't seriously hurting the man, they were sending him careening across the sky, preventing him from making any real effort at directed flight. One shot exploded across the man's helmet, sending him pinwheeling through the sky.

Celica watched, awestruck, as three successive bullets of force slammed into the man's power plant backpack, breaching the containment unit. The aerial unit abruptly exploded in a thunderous detonation, tearing a brilliant hole in the starry black sky.

"Looks like that's their weak spot!" Lutecia cried, a note of triumph in her voice. "Don't let your guard down; those other two are still alive."

"I know that," said Celica. "Tizona, Blade Form."

"[Blade Form]," the Device confirmed, reshaping itself into the familiar long-bladed dagger. "They aren't going to come to us; we're going to have to hunt them down."

"They know better than to face us at range," Lutecia said coolly. "Asclepius, can you take down the shadow shield?"

"I obey," the Intelligent Device said immediately. The shimmering dome of shadowy energy flickered once and faded, allowing the two women to quickly meet up with Garyuu.

Celica was astonished to see that the insect guardian's left arm no longer hung limp and useless. The deep gash where Tizona's blade had sundered the alien creature's natural armor was already repaired, leaving only smooth black chitin where a grievous wound once was.

"It's already healed that much?"

"His regenerative powers are incredible," Lutecia said proudly. "It'll be a while longer before he can actually use that arm to fight with, though."

"Be careful," Celica said seriously. "We don't want to hit their backpacks too close; that explosion was big enough to leave little pieces of us laying all over the landscape."

No more words were exchanged as Lutecia and Celica ran across the blasted landscape, easily jumping over gorges and large fissures in the rock. The two aerial units had gone to ground about two hundred meters away. It would only be a matter of time before the stunned units managed to recover and mount a renewed assault.

_We've got to take these guys out so Alphine can steal the Lost Logia,_ thought Celica grimly. _Let's do our best, Tizona._

_Yes, Mistress,_ was the Device's mental response.

It wasn't long until the air was alive with glowing green-white blobs of molten magic. Celica tucked her head down and ran as fast as she could, brandishing Tizona in her right hand.

"[Protection]," Tizona said as he brought up defenses, deflecting two of the incoming projectiles with a liquid-like splash. The raw magic was heavily charged, however, and the third and fourth shots plowed through the hastily-erected defense, shattering the shield like glass.

Celica dropped as she ran, sliding across the dusty ground as the two bolts of power streaked past her. Garyuu flitted across and brandished a wrist blade, deflecting two more shots that bore down on the prone and now-motionless Celica.

The Shadow mouthed her thanks to the insect guardian and stood up, glancing over at Lutecia, who was fighting one of the enemy units in close combat. Celica had never seen Lutecia fight hand-to-hand, but the young woman was quite skilled.

Her foot lashed out and slammed heavily into her opponent's metal helmet, sending the man staggering back as he struggled to bring his magic-blasting rifle to bear.

Garyuu's wrist blade flashed and severed the umbilical connecting the weapon to the armor's power plant, rendering it useless. The insect guardian whirled around and slammed his clawed foot against the chestplate, shattering the composite material with inhuman force. The body flew several meters from the force of the blow and crumpled into a lifeless heap.

Celica sent a barrage of magical force bullets streaking at the last remaining unit, the micro-detonations stunning him and putting him off-balance. The soldier was well-trained, however, and managed to fire several quick blasts from his rifle, scoring a direct hit that knocked the red-haired woman from her feet.

"Celica!" Lutecia cried, raising her hand with a quick casting. Asclepius glowed fiercely as he brought up a shadow shield around Celica's prone form. The older woman groaned, her Barrier Jacket smoking and scorched.

Lutecia was worried about Celica, but she couldn't do anything at the moment, not as long as the last soldier remained alive. The enemy unit was intelligent enough to recognize the shadow shield for what it was and subsequently switched targets. He sent a deadly barrage of seething raw magic at Lutecia, which she managed to dodge just in time to avoid being incinerated.

"Garyuu, cover me," Lutecia commanded. The insect guardian nodded silently and glared murder at the remaining soldier as he laid down several poorly-aimed shots, intended only to keep his enemy at bay while he opened a communications link with the base.

_If they had any more of these... proto-mages, I guess,_ thought Lutecia, _they would have sent them out already. Still, it wouldn't be good to let him have a conversation with his superiors._

"Tizona!" Lutecia shouted, hoping the Device could register her request from this distance. "Jam all communications now!"

"I will do so, Agent Alphine," the Interface Device replied, the blade flashing briefly with blue-white energy as it began to emit a powerful jamming signal on all usable frequencies. It would be short-range, since Tizona had not had time to target specific frequencies, but it would be enough.

Lutecia smiled grimly as the man's body went rigid with anger, visible even under the bulk of his power-assisted armor suit. Tizona's intervention came just in time to interrupt his report.

_Now all that's left is to take him out,_ thought Lutecia. She raised her right hand and extended her palm, preparing to loose a deadly barrage of magical force. A swarm of black-purple bolts rained down on the man, blasting chunks of armor away, penetrating the magically-charged material and damaging the flesh and bone beneath.

Lutecia ceased her attack just short of breaching the power plant's containment field—she was much too close to survive such an explosion—and aimed a single magical blast to strike the man in the head.

The heavy helmet burst apart at the seams from the detonation as the man's head exploded. Blood splattered the ground as the now-headless corpse fell heavily, pieces of fragmented skull and brain matter staining the cracked and ruined armor suit.

Lutecia exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. The fight was over, for now, but there was still much to do. She half-ran over to where she had left Celica under a shadow shield. The woman was sitting up, patiently waiting for Lutecia to dispel the defensive barrier so she could get out.

"I wasn't hurt that badly," Celica explained. "The Barrier Jacket absorbed most of the hit. If you hadn't left this silly shield over me, I could have helped you out with that last one."

"How was I supposed to know you weren't out cold? _Again_?" Lutecia demanded teasingly. "I just wanted to make sure I didn't need to worry about protecting you while I fought."

"Oh, is _that_ how it goes?"

"That's how it goes," Lutecia agreed dryly. "Come on, let's get this over with before they start harassing us again."

* * *

_Unit Epsilon Headquarters  
Washington, D.C.  
Non-Administrated World #97  
08.28.0088_

"They have taken the sample, General. Both contacts are no longer showing up on our instruments. We've lost them."

"It doesn't really matter that much," a gravelly voice with a touch of a Southern accent said, staring into the webcam built into the lid of his portable computer. "We've already learned as much as we can from the damned thing. After having it for fifty years, we still can't figure out how to turn it on!"

"Perhaps that is for the best, General," an older woman on the other end of the videoconferencing session said primly. "That thing always gave me the creeps."

"Gave you the creeps, huh?" General Augustus Reed said. "Ain't that a little unscientific to say, Dr. Vance?"

The woman's face split into a small smile. "You know damn well I'm not an ordinary researcher, and what we're doing isn't in the realm of ordinary science. We're using it, yet we don't fully understand it."

"It's only magic if you don't understand how it works," quoted the General in a dry tone. "The prototype units were killed?"

"One survived; it appeared as if his power armor was overloaded by some type of disabling attack. We're pulling a debriefing report from him as we speak. The other five have been confirmed dead."

"The artifact was an acceptable loss," General Reed said solemnly, "but this, _this_ failure is unacceptable, Dr. Vance. You know as well as I do that humans with active Linker Cores are extremely rare. We can't afford to lose even _one_ unit, much less _five_!"

"General, I know it is a significant loss, but the data we've managed to obtain as a result of this battle is of incalculable value. We knew right from the starting gate that we'd _never_ be able to obtain real field testing data... but we _have_ that now!"

"What are you telling me, Doctor?"

"I'm telling you that with the data we've gathered... assuming we have the available resources, we can improve the combat effectiveness of the prototype units threefold."

"That much?"

"At least that much," said Dr. Vance with conviction. "Just from scratching the surface here, I know we can greatly bolster the defensive abilities of the power armor. With further study, we should be able to realize a substantial increase in _both_ offensive and defensive power when the unit goes into mass-production."

"You're forgetting one important thing," General Reed said acidly. "Our people rarely have active Linker Cores, unlike our Midchildan brothers. Even if we start mass-producing the power armor, who's going to _use_ it? It won't work unless the operator has an active Linker Core. You're getting ahead of yourself, Dr. Vance."

"We believe we can find enough volunteers. If you give us a little more time..."

"Time is something we don't have," Reed said sharply. "Congress is nosing around. Make sure that there were no witnesses to last night's events. If there are, you know what to do with them."

"Yes, sir," the gray-haired woman said solemnly. "I'll relay your orders to Colonel Meyers. This area is pretty desolate, though, so I doubt anyone saw anything at all."

"The last thing we need right now is a massive media scandal and a congressional witch-hunt into Unit Epsilon. Especially not when we're so close to success. We have no idea when the Time-Space Administration Bureau will decide to involve themselves more closely in Earth—and by extension, the United States. Make sure _nothing _gets out."

"Yes, sir."

General Reed closed the connection and shut down the video stream. He leaned back in his leather executive chair, pulling a pack of unfiltered cigarettes from his breast pocket. The military officer lit the cigarette and exhaled a plume of bluish smoke.

"I hope to hell that this works," Reed said to no one in particular.


	5. Chapter 5

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.29.0088_

Admiral Chrono Harlaown was worried.

The rather young flag officer leaned back in his padded leather executive chair and exhaled heavily. He hadn't received any communication from Lutecia Alphine since he had last seen the woman in person. This would ordinarily not be that troubling—Lutecia rarely phoned home during her long missions, preferring to maintain radio silence and keep her head in the game.

No, that wasn't what worried Chrono. The _other_, possibly related things that were brought to his attention, those where what worried him. He yawned cavernously and stared at the tiled ceiling for a long moment.

Victor Stormhawk had just left the director's office. If at all possible, the blond man appeared to be more worried than Chrono. The admiral felt awful, lying to one of his most trusted subordinates in such a fashion, but the stakes were too high.

_He must really be freaking out,_ thought Chrono grimly. _He knows just as well as I do that Shadows are not privy to the mission information and itinerary of their peers._

_It's because Celica is gone, and I don't have a good answer as to _why_ she is gone,_ Chrono knew. He rubbed tired eyes—the day was barely two hours old and already he felt exhausted. This job definitely wasn't for the faint of heart.

"Admiral, there's a call for you, redirected from your Navy office line," the voice of his secretary said over the intercom. "It's your wife."

Chrono groaned inwardly. His wife wasn't a fan of the long hours Chrono had been putting in since he took over the leadership of NSIS. Oficially, the woman was unaware of his position within NSIS, believing that he had taken a desk job within the Ground Forces liaison branch of the Navy. Which, for the most part, was actually true—he _did_ work rather closely with the Ground Forces' joint chiefs of staff, specifically Lt. General Hayate Yagami.

_Unofficially_, however, Chrono's position as the director of NSIS was hardly a secret from his family.

"Put her through, Jenna, thank you," Chrono said solicitously. The receptionist disconnected the line and transferred the incoming call.

"Hi, honey," Chrono greeted, a bit lamely, he thought.

"Chrono," Amy's voice came over the line, "will you be coming home on time tonight?"

"Barring any world-destroying catastrophes, I should be home early tonight," the dark-haired man responded with a slight smile his wife couldn't see. The communication was audio-only, a rarity in Midchilda's high-tech society. But it offered Chrono a slight degree of security.

"Okay. I just wanted to confirm; your mother's supposed to come visit us and the kids for the weekend. She should be arriving on Midchilda sometime this afternoon," Amy reminded him.

Chrono was well aware his mother was on her way. Coming to visit her son's family was actually a cover; Lindy Harlaown was coming to Midchilda to talk to the director of NSIS about the strong anti-agency bias prevalent within the IAFW's Administrative Council.

"I know, I'm going to meet her at the starport," Chrono replied warmly. "Give my love to the little monsters. I love you, Amy."

"I love you, too, Chrono. I'll see you tonight."

Chrono disconnected the call. Even the weight of his worries couldn't wipe away the smile he now wore. The admiral actually wished his wife would call him every day like that. It would certainly help relieve the stress this job caused, he knew.

But that wouldn't last. The small communications console next to his computer began to flash urgently. This line was _not _tied to his office at the Ground Forces HQ, nor was it through ordinary NSIS channels. This was a priority mission-report line, heavily encrypted—_the encryption algorithm was actually coded by Celica_, thought Chrono with no small amount of irony—designed for use by field agents to report important developments. It also had video, unlike his office line.

Chrono did not hesitate. He immediately answered the incoming call. What he saw made his blood run cold.

A small holographic display materialized in the air before him, displaying the face of Lutecia Alphine—only it was barely recognizeable. The woman's face was haggard and worn. A deep gash burned across her forehead, leaving streaks of dried blood down her face.

"Admiral, I—"

"What the hell happened, Alphine?" Chrono demanded, appalled by the bone-weary look on Lutecia's face.

"I failed my mission," Lutecia replied weakly. Chrono scowled at the young woman through the communications link. He was not angry with her, even considering the unfortunate news she brought. Behind the steely outer facade, Chrono was deeply concerned.

And perhaps a little bit afraid.

"Explain yourself," Chrono ordered sternly.

Lutecia took a deep, ragged breath, "This is what happened..."

* * *

_Twenty-four hours earlier:  
Hayate's former home/Bureau safe house  
Uminari, Japan  
Non-Administrated World #97  
08.28.0088_

"So this is the Lost Logia you've been searching for," Lutecia said neutrally.

Celica Iris-Lynnfield nodded as she pored over the data scrolling across Tizona's displays. The two women had successfully pulled off Celica's crazy plan, using Lutecia's summoning powers to cast a sort of reverse-teleport spell. This had allowed them to swipe the dormant artifact from the base without actually engaging any more enemies.

_They had seven more of those 'protomages' still inside,_ Celica mused to herself. The two of them and Garyuu were able to defeat five protomages without _too_ much trouble, but it was still a near thing. Celica was only too thankful that active Linker Cores were a rare thing on this world. The protomages, despite their technological disadvantage, were tougher opponents than she'd expected.

"We don't know much about it," said Celica without looking up from her displays. They had taken the artifact and relocated to a safe house on Earth that the Bureau maintained—actually, it was once General Hayate Yagami's own home, where she had spent much of her youth. It was used by the Bureau's agents who operated on or around Earth for rest and recuperation.

Lutecia believed the safe house would be an ideal place to allow Celica to place a heavy seal on the Lost Logia in preparation to transport it to the secure conservation room at the Infinity Library, where Dr. Scrya and a team of arcanists from the Saint Church could study the device.

"Have you reported to the admiral yet?" Celica asked, still not bothering to look up from her screens. She took a bite out of a large slice of pizza and chewed thoughtfully as her eyes scanned over the rows upon rows of code.

"I try to maintain radio silence as much as possible during a mission," Lutecia replied, taking a healthy swallow of cherry Coke from a frosted glass. "Once we get this thing sealed and transport it to the Library, I will contact him from the branch office there. It has a secure terminal."

"Tizona could encrypt a transmission heavily enough that they wouldn't be able to break it without a lot of effort," offered Celica.

"No," Lutecia said at length, "I don't want to take any chances with this. We need to hurry this up and get to the Infinity Library as quickly as we can. With the Lost Logia, the doctored reports, the strategic planning notes and the lists of names, I don't think you'll have to worry about those murder charges any more."

Celica smirked as she sipped at her beer. "The admiral won't be able to do anything immediately, Alphine. That information gets out, and the corrupt faction will just do a disappearing act, _and_ the Administrative Council will tear us a new asshole. The admiral's going to have to take them out, and it sure as hell won't be legal."

"I know that," Lutecia said softly. "It's just nice to know..."

"That you weren't wrong about me?" Celica asked slyly. The lilac-haired summoner blushed faintly and shook her head.

"We've been through a lot together," Lutecia said softly. "You, Vic and I have worked together more than most other Shadows ever have—the exact sort of emotional attachment the admiral tries to dissuade."

"But we're different," Celica pointed out, though it was not the whole truth. Lutecia _wasn't_ different, and both Victor Stormhawk and Celica, two of the woman's closest friends within NSIS, knew it.

_If only things had turned out differently, you might not even be here today, Alphine,_ mused Celica silently. The analyst knew well _why_ Lutecia Alphine was the number-one agent within the Field Division. It had little to do with the fact that she the third highest-ranked mage within NSIS as a whole.

Lutecia could have left and Chrono would have done nothing, Celica knew. She knew well that Lutecia was involved with the Takamachi family through the adoptive daughter, Vivio. The summoner had her hands around the admiral's balls and she didn't even realize it.

_She doesn't leave, though. I don't really understand it—she's not cut out for this kind of life._

Celica turned her thoughts from such dark subjects and concentrated on the task at hand. The safe house would only remain safe for so long. Lutecia hadn't been strong enough after stealing the Lost Logia to transport them to the main office.

"Alphine, you should be resting," Celica said sternly as the other woman sat down in front of one of Tizona's holographic terminals. She tapped a command into her workstation and the terminal in front of Lutecia dissolved into motes of blue-white light.

"I can't sleep."

"You should try," Celica reminded her. "You're our only ticket off this rock. The Bureau doesn't bother putting transfer ports on worlds they don't administer. I'm terrible at movement magic."

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Lutecia pressed. Celica did not reply, her attention wholly absorbed by the task at hand. The woman was essentially writing a new spell—altering the core logic of an existing magical seal to function with the Lost Logia's alien composition. The whole time, Tizona was scanning, gathering data on the device, trying to glean some sort of clue as to what exactly it was supposed to do.

It wasn't terribly successful. The Lost Logia was still dormant, and Celica did not know how to activate it, nor was she sure she wanted to. In her experience, activating strange Lost Logia generally resulted in a quick but messy death.

"Is there any of that pizza left, Celica?"

"Help yourself," Celica said, pointing to the white cardboard box sitting on the counter top in the kitchen. Lutecia padded barefoot into the kitchen and drew out a few slices of lukewarm pizza, refilling her glass with cherry Coke from a plastic two-liter bottle.

"I have finished compiling," Tizona announced abruptly. Celica smiled tightly; her ever-present partner never failed to surprise her. He was thirty minutes ahead of schedule.

"_Good_ job, Tizona. Give me a minute to go over the sequence and then we'll seal this thing up good and tight."

"Alert," Asclepius's voice rang out suddenly, ominously in the darkened room. "Detecting incoming magical energy signature, Ancient Belkan-type. It approaches at high speed."

"What is it?" Lutecia asked her Device, setting the paper plate bearing her meal on the counter.

"Unknown contact approaching," Asclepius clarified. "Identification failed."

"Tizona, what's going on? Stop analysis; enter active scanning mode. I hope to hell the Bureau didn't decide to _use_ this safe house _tonight,_ of all nights."

"There are no Bureau-sanctioned operations on NA97," Tizona reported grimly. "I have identified the incoming contact."

Celica hissed in anger and dismay as Tizona produced a small holographic display with the identification information. The visage in the floating display window was familiar to her—and to Lutecia, as well. Information scrolled under the window, identifying the man's mage rank and combat classification.

"It's Stele," Lutecia murmured. "How did he find us so quickly?"

"Unfortunately, Alphine, we stand out too much," Celica said acidly, though her anger was directed not at Lutecia, but at being discovered so quickly. She thought they'd have at least a day or two before being detected. "This world is populated largely by people with dormant Linker Cores, and it just makes ours much more obvious."

"Shit," Lutecia muttered, then turned her attention to her Device. "Asclepius, what's the incoming contact's ETA?"

"Three minutes, twenty-one seconds," Asclepius responded.

"Not enough time," said Celica immediately. "The sealing spell to close up this thing will take me at least ten minutes to cast. We're going to have to go, _now_, and hope that the long-range transfer doesn't accidentally turn this thing on. Can you do it?"

"I can't take us directly to the main office," Lutecia explained, "but there's an unmanned Bureau sensor station a few light-years away that has a full-range transfer port. We can use that to get to—"

Lutecia's voice died in her throat as the air around them seemed to fade and distort. Colors began to wash out and the space felt heavy, oppressive, as if an invisible wet blanket had fallen over their shoulders.

"Dimensional lock detected," Tizona pointed out rather unnecessarily.

"So much for leaving," Celica growled. "Fuck. I can't dispel a dimensional lock this powerful from the inside, and I don't know how big it is."

"He's after the Lost Logia... and you," Lutecia said quietly. "Though I'm sure he won't hesitate to kill us both."

"We worked our asses off getting this tinker toy," Celica snapped harshly, "and I'll be damned if I let that bastard take it away from me without a fight."

"Abraham Stele is an SS-ranked combat-type," Lutecia pointed out. "He's known within the Shadows as the—"

"Yeah, the 'One-Man Army,' I know," Celica interrupted, scowling fiercely. "Specializing in annihilation missions, Agent Stele is sent on the most dangerous assignments, and he's almost always successful. He's also the highest-ranked mage within NSIS."

"And you expect to _fight_ him?" Lutecia asked incredulously.

"We don't have another choice," Celica said impatiently. "I can't dispel a dimensional lock from the inside of the field, and I don't know how large it is. Considering Stele's rank, it could be hundreds of miles wide. A dimensional lock isn't nearly as hard to keep active as a phase barrier."

"Contact approaching. ETA: one minute, four seconds," Asclepius reported. Celica watched as Tizona reverted to his weapon form, grasping the dagger-shaped Device in her right hand so tightly her knuckles whitened.

* * *

Abraham Stele stood mere meters away, his massive body encased in heavy plate armor, fashioned in the old style, when the Belkan Empire was the definitive power on Midchilda. His face was obscured by a full great helm, magically powered and outfitted with sensors and support systems linked to his Armed Device, Ridill.

The man gripped that very same Device in his right hand, holding the massive two-handed broadsword as if it weighed no more than a table knife. The iron-gray blade was etched with glowing Belkan runes, imbuing the blade with various offensive powers.

Celica and Lutecia stood resolutely together, their respective Devices brought to bear. Tizona's silvery blade gleamed with a blue-white corona. Garyuu stood to one side, partially obscured by the shadows, his own natural weapons glinting dully in the moonlight.

Stele planted the tip of Ridill into the concrete patio, sending up chunks of masonry. With his right hand he removed the great helm, revealing his undeniably handsome face, his chiseled features splitting into a smug grin.

"At last I've run you to ground, Iris-Lynnfield," the man said conversationally. "I will be taking the Precursor Artifact."

"So that's what you call the tinker toy, hmm? Do you really think I'd just hand it over to you?" Celica demanded. "Knowing that your orders are to kill me, too?"

"Of course not," Stele said, still standing casually, his helmet slung over one shoulder. "Your fate—and the fate of the Precursor Artifact—is sealed." His gaze traveled to Lutecia.

"But I have no quarrel with Agent Alphine," Stele pointed out, chewing his lower lip thoughtfully. "I am a busy man, Iris-Lynnfield. I don't have time to play with the two of you. I would appreciate it greatly if you surrendered yourself and the Precursor Artifact to me."

Lutecia glanced at Celica worriedly. The implication was clear—Stele was offering to spare Lutecia's life if Celica would surrender herself and the Lost Logia without a fight.

The summoner did not wait for Celica to reply—the Belkan knight was hardly vulnerable, even with his helmet removed, but Lutecia _would_ have the element of surprise.

_Garyuu, now!_

A black flash of chitin and razor-sharp blades exploded from the shaded terrace as the insect guardian attacked. Lutecia did not wait around to admire Garyuu's handiwork before launching a withering barrage of her own. Dozens of black-purple blasts of magical energy lanced outward, converging upon their target and detonating in a roaring conflagration.

Celica may not have been a warrior, but her reaction time was fast enough. She immediately leaped backward as the space around her as Garyuu flashed past. Stele grunted in agony as Garyuu connected with a spinning kick, the insect guardian's foot setting Stele back on his heels.

A split second later he was engulfed in the explosion of Lutecia's attack.

"Celica, get over here, now," Lutecia ordered harshly. The red-haired woman complied without words, falling back behind Lutecia's position. The black-purple summoning circle under Lutecia's feet told Celica that she was in the midst of a powerful casting.

It may have been too late. Stele shot upward, _leaping_ into the air with the sheer power of his huge leg muscles rather than magical flight, clearing the dust cloud before it could dissipate. His armor was scored with several creases—Garyuu's strikes had been felt.

"[Abyssal Chains]," Asclepius intoned. A second summoning circle, smaller than the first, materialized underneath Stele's feet at the exact moment he touched down on the carefully-maintained lawn. Black iron chains, each link easily as thick as Celica's wrist, slashed out from the summoning circle and wrapped themselves around Stele's arms, ankles and waist.

"I cannot be chained," Stele said contemptuously, staring sidelong at the material summon holding him bound. A blood-red Belkan magic circle sprang into being beneath him.

"_[Festigkeit von Stahl],"_ the Armed Device, Ridill, intoned in a stern feminine voice. Lutecia and Celica watched in awe as the Belkan knight began to glow with a red-black aura. He took a deep breath and flexed his muscles, shattering the thick chains as if they were formed of spun sugar, rather than magically-forged iron.

"_[Blitzstrahl]."_

Stele moved with impossible speed, charging forward, Ridill gripped in a two-handed stack as he attacked. The blade flashed with crackling reddish lightning as he bore down on Lutecia, intending to strike the summoner with a sundering blow that would kill her or put her out of the fight permanently.

Garyuu interceded, a razor-sharp wrist blade catching Stele's Device and driving it high. The insect guardian was extremely skilled in swordplay, especially with his own natural weapons. He knew better than to directly block such a powerful blow; instead, his parry deflected the blade.

Redirecting the kinetic energy of the blow did nothing to stop the lightning imbued into Ridill's edge, however. Garyuu writhed in soundless agony as his body was wreathed in reddish arcs of energy. He backpedaled to avoid further damage, his black carapace smoking faintly.

"[Shadow Shield]," Asclepius barked, forming a shadowy protective field over Celica's location. The gray-eyed mage nodded in understanding; while Celica _had_ several melee techniques, she would not last ten seconds against Stele. She was best off supporting Lutecia from a distance.

"Tizona, Interface Form!" Celica ordered. The Device complied instantly, reforming into a diverse array of holographic terminals and displays. This left her terribly vulnerable, she knew—when in Interface Form, Tizona redirected _all_ of his resources to his processing cores. Celica was reduced to only her Barrier Jacket and Lutecia's shadow shield for her own protection.

_But if I can hack into Ridill's systems, perhaps I can take control, or at least reduce his fighting effectiveness..._

Lutecia was keeping her distance from the man while Garyuu continued his harassing tactics. The insect guardian never remained in direct melee for long, using his speed and his natural flight abilities to dart in for a single blow, then quickly retreat before Stele could retaliate.

"This grows tiresome," Stele said in a disinterested tone, just as Garyuu danced out of the way, dodging a blow from Ridill with contemptuous ease. Lutecia responded with a flurry of magical energy blasts.

Stele was right, in a twisted sort of way, Lutecia knew. They were barely hurting the behemoth, and they were expending large amounts of energy to do so.

The Ancient Belkan knight was merely _bored_.

"Firewall breached, core logic adapted," Tizona reported. Celica nodded as she tapped in a string of commands with dizzying speed, her long, dextrous fingers flying across the projected input panels.

"Let's see how you like _this_ one," Celica muttered wrathfully, stabbing her right index finger on the "Commit" key. The results were not visually spectacular, but Celica felt a deep sense of satisfaction as Stele's body ceased to glow with reddish light.

"Error," Ridill bleated suddenly. "Core logic disrupted. Augment systems failing."

Lutecia and Garyuu struck simultaneously.

The summoner sent a deadly stream of magical projectiles striking one after another, slamming against Stele's depowered armor, blasting dents and cracks into the heavy beaten plates. The insect guardian struck Stele's right hand, slashing through the metal armor and severing the tendons beneath. The Belkan knight grunted in agony but did not falter, instead shifting Ridill to his left hand. Celica was awed by the ease at which the warrior handled the weapon, even in his non-dominant hand.

Garyuu flew backwards, but wasn't quite fast enough. Stele slammed the insect guardian hard with the flat of Ridill's blade. Garyuu's flight failed and the alien creature fell heavily to the ground.

"_[Regeneration],"_ Ridill said suddenly. Stele shuddered as his Device activated an automatic healing system, repairing the injury to his wrist and returning him to prime combat effectiveness. Stele flexed his injured right hand experimentally before taking his weapon back in a two-handed stack—Celica knew that even with the rapid point-healing spell, it would still be stiff and sore.

_It won't slow him down much, if at all,_ thought Celica bleakly.

"Tizona, can you compromise the connection between Ridill and Stele's Linker Core?"

"I can," Tizona replied confidently. "Beginning process now; security attack initiated." Rows upon rows of code scrolled across Tizona's displays as the Device leveraged its awesome processing power to compromise the link between Device and mage. It would greatly reduce Stele's ability to cast spells, but Celica knew better than to think that would significantly stack the deck in their favor.

But Stele had other ideas.

"Ridill, Cartridge Load!" Stele snapped.

"Explosion!"

The Armed Device complied, cycling its action and slamming home a cartridge filled with compressed magical energy. Energy surged into the Device and fed back through the link into Stele's Linker Core. Ridill's blade flashed with a seething reddish-black aura.

"Link stabilizing," Tizona reported, the frustration evident in his artificially-generated voice. "Energy levels are 500% of nominal. I cannot disrupt the link."

"Shit," Celica cursed, frowning. As long as the cartridge energy flowed through the link between Stele's Device and his Linker Core, Tizona would be unable to disrupt the connection. The link was too strong. Celica cursed the fact that Tizona's unique construction made him totally incompatible with the Cartridge System, but it was just as well—she'd likely totally collapse her Linker Core if she ever tried to combine cartridge use with her Overclock ability.

"Tizona, Cannon Form," Celica said, changing tactics. Stele had prevented her from further hindering his efforts by overcharging Ridill with energy; she could do nothing more now than act as fire-support.

Celica lifted the weapon and braced it against her shoulder, sighting down the aperture and loosing a potent bombardment spell at point-blank range.

"[Plasma Cannon]."

Blue-white fire exploded from Tizona's aperture, coalescing into a brilliant beam of destructive magical energy. Stele tried to backpedal to avoid the blast, but Lutecia's suppression fire hemmed him in. The blast caught him fully, sending the armored knight crashing to the ground.

His knight's armor, still depowered from the initial assault on the Device, was not fully up to the task of deflecting the blast. Metal creaked and groaned in protest as superheated magical energy washed over the man.

"Enough!" Stele growled, planting Ridill's tip into the cracked patio, levering himself up into a standing position. The powerful blast had barely hurt the behemoth. "This certainly _was_ amusing, but my time grows short."

Celica's eyes widened, stealing a glance over at Lutecia. The summoner looked to be just as exhausted as Celica herself felt. "Brace yourself, Alphine! This one's going to be bad!"

Stele gripped his Armed Device in a reverse two-handed hold, lifting the blade high as he prepared to plunge it deep into the ground. The weapon's action cycled several times, fully filling its mana reservoir with the contents of four cartridges. The Belkan magic circle materialized beneath Stele's feet, the angular runes glowing fiercely with barely-contained power.

"_[__Erschütterung],"_ Ridill intoned as Stele shoved the sword into the ground with all of his might. The blade sank nearly a foot into the concrete of the patio. The magic circle flared with intense brilliance as the ground began to rock violently. Pulses of invisible power flowed from Ridill's blade into the ground, setting up massive seismic shockwaves through the earth.

A spiderweb of cracks spread out from the point of impact, shattering the slab of concrete. Celica, protected as she was beneath the shadow shield, was spared the blast as the shockwaves rolled outward, washing over the defensive barrier.

Lutecia, however, was not so lucky. Garyuu darted forth to protect the summoner from the oncoming blast, but he was not fast enough. The pulse of kinetic energy slammed into Lutecia's petite frame like a hammer blow, knocking her sprawling to the ground, the wind blasted from her lungs.

Garyuu immediately shielded her body with his, weathering the intense forces as the shockwaves increased in intensity. Celica watched helplessly, unable to move underneath the shadow shield, unable and unwilling to dispel the protection from the inside.

"Tizona!" Celica screamed. The Interface Device complied with his mistress's wishes and erected a protective shield around both Lutecia and Garyuu, but it was a wasted gesture. Celica's defensive capabilities could not hold against such a potent assault. The dome of faintly-glowing defensive magic shattered like glass underneath the punishing onslaught of seismic shocks.

Debris from the ruined safe house rained down around Celica. The shadow shield began to flicker and falter—_Lutecia must've been knocked unconscious,_ Celica knew with certainty, disrupting Asclepius's connection to the woman's Linker Core.

Stele took a step forward and sundered the weakened shadow shield with a single powerful blow from his Device. The umbral barrier dissolved into black-purple mist, leaving Celica vulnerable.

"I will end this now, foolish girl," Stele growled menacingly. The Belkan knight swung his heavy two-handed sword around, catching Celica across the back with the flat of the blade.

The breath blasted from her body, Celica wheezed in agony, feeling the telltale sharp stabs of broken ribs. She fell to her knees, coughing horribly, her lungs burning for air. Blackness edged around her vision and she knew the next blow, no matter how forceful, would send her into unconsciousness. And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. Celica stared up at the approaching juggernaut, her gray eyes struggling to focus.

_Why... ? He has me dead to rights... but he's not killing me. He intends to take me in, _alive_... but why—_

Celica's thoughts were cut short as Stele finished the job. The Ancient Belkan knight balled up a mailed fist and drove it down hard onto the back of Celica's head, sending her body crashing to the cracked and split patio.

The world went dark.

* * *

Lutecia opened her eyes and found that she could not move. She saw nothing except a dull black blur. It took her a long moment to realize that Garyuu's unconscious body lay atop hers—the insect guardian had protected her, even as he lost consciousness.

"Garyuu, return," Lutecia whispered hoarsely. Asclepius flashed once, canceling the spell that held Garyuu suspended in this dimension. The insect guardian's body dissipated into purple-black motes of light and was gone.

It was still late at night; she had been unconscious for no more than a few minutes at most. The stars shone brightly overhead, no longer dimmed by the presence of the dimensional lock. Lutecia glanced around worriedly, hoping that she was wrong, but deep down, knowing she was right.

The safe house had been utterly ruined. It looked for all the world like a bomb had gone off in the nearby vicinity—which, Lutecia reflected, was an accurate analogy. Debris and other bits of unidentifiable, mangled building materials were scattered across the destroyed yard. The expansive backyard patio was cracked and blasted.

"Celica, are you alive?" Lutecia called out as she struggled to her feet. A deep gash across her forehead bled into her eyes, stinging and blinding her. She impatiently wiped the blood from her eyes and blinked several times to clear her vision.

There was no sign of Celica Iris-Lynnfield.

Lutecia felt a deep sense of foreboding as she ignored her injuries and began to systematically search the site of the devastation. She didn't have much time; the fight hadn't lasted terribly long, but Stele had not placed a phase barrier over the battlefield. Someone surely had noticed the commotion and would come to investigate.

"It's just as well," muttered the summoner aloud, her voice empty of hope. Her worst fears had been confirmed. Celica was gone... and so was the Lost Logia.

"Asclepius, let's go," Lutecia murmured softly.

There was only one thing she could do at this point. She closed her eyes and felt deep within herself, connecting with that formless distortion of reality known as the Linker Core. A Belkan magic circle sprang into being beneath her feet, glowing faintly with black-purple light.

In a flash of violet fire, Lutecia was gone.

* * *

_Infirmary  
NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.29.0088_

"... and I transferred a short distance away, to avoid any possible contact with native disaster-relief forces."

Chrono Harlaown nodded wordlessly and turned to the medic standing over the infirmary bed. Lutecia Alphine lay on the bed, dressed in a white hospital gown, her hair and body cleaned of the dirt, grime and soot accumulated over the course of a pitched battle.

"I'm glad you came back in one piece, Agent Alphine," Chrono said as warmly as he could, offering the young woman a smile. The admiral tapped a few commands into the holographic display in front of him, ending the recording and saving the intermission debriefing.

"Admiral," Lutecia said wearily, "Celica didn't do anything wrong."

"I know that now, Alphine, and it's all thanks to your efforts," Chrono said softly, but there was a hard edge in his eyes. Lutecia began to protest, but Chrono cut her off.

"Relax. I haven't released this information to anyone I don't trust implicitly. While you were asleep and Celica's supervisor over in EAID had a chance to analyze Tizona's memory banks, the NSIS core computer returned a negative reading for Abraham Stele. He severed his Device's connection to the network, very neatly and thoroughly."

"Just like Celica did, so we can't track him," Lutecia noted acidly.

"Right. Commander Davidson has a few ideas on how we can find him, but it's going to take a while. The data Tizona had stored on the mysterious Lost Logia should help immensely. It should be a lot easier to detect now that we know what we're looking for."

"Admiral—"

"Don't worry about it right now, Alphine," Chrono interrupted gently. "Your only job right now is to get plenty of rest. That's an order, Agent Alphine."

"Yes, sir," Lutecia said glumly. "If I may ask, Admiral... ?"

"You want to know if I'm going to reassign the mission, correct?"

"That's correct, sir."

"No," Chrono said at length, "nobody else is as familiar with this as you are. This is still your mission, Alphine. It's not over until both Iris-Lynnfield and this so-called 'Precursor Artifact' are both in my custody."

"Admiral—"

"Get some rest, Lutecia," Chrono repeated firmly. "I've got to get home or Amy will have my head. Mother's coming to visit us and the kids; I'm already on thin ice as it is with the hours I've been working recently."

"Once I finish a few more tests to ensure no lingering abnormalities with her Linker Core, she can go home and rest," the nurse said without looking up from her charts.

"Good. Be in my office at 0800 tomorrow, Alphine," Chrono ordered as he walked out of the infirmary. Lutecia sighed and laid her head back down on the pillow as the nurse tapped a string of commands into the medical console.

"Just relax, Agent Alphine," the woman said soothingly. "We'll be all done in about an hour, then you can head home and get some sleep. You look like you haven't slept in days!"

"That's probably because I haven't," Lutecia replied dryly. She closed her eyes and sighed, letting the medic do her job.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

_Naval Forces Starport  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.29.0088_

Chrono knew something was wrong as soon as he stepped out of the staff car and saw his mother, Administrator Lindy Harlaown. She was dressed in casual civilian clothing, but the expression she wore on her face told him that whatever she had to say, it was all business—and likely nothing good.

"Thank you, Corporal. Wait for us a moment, please," the admiral said graciously as the driver opened his door and allowed him to step out. The driver saluted smartly and got back in the vehicle, obediently awaiting the admiral's return.

"Your news must be particularly bad if you were waiting for me to arrive out here," Chrono said blandly.

Lindy said nothing at all, but entered a few commands on the portable holographic terminal floating in the air in front of her. It was opened to a news feed showing an attractive female anchor discussing breaking news. Clips of various Council representatives arriving at the Cranagan Primary Starport were superimposed over scrolling text.

"_... the Administrative Council announced today that it will be calling a special investigative hearing concerning the Time-Space Administration Bureau's Naval Special Intelligence Service. Reliable anonymous sources within the IAFW's Administrative Council have claimed that the hearing is in relation to the murder of three Bureau security officers by one of their own agents—"_

The images of the arriving dignitaries faded, replaced with an old picture of Celica Iris-Lynnfield, likely a stock photo taken from her Naval Forces ID, surrounded by scrolling text.

"_The suspected murderer, Commander Celica Iris-Lynnfield, is currently at large and is considered armed and extremely dangerous. The TSAB's liaison office and the Enforcers have been unavailable for comment."_

Lindy closed the window, cutting the news anchor off, but Chrono had seen more than enough. He hissed angrily, turning around and thrusting his hands deeply into the pockets of his uniform jacket.

"I just found out about this today," Lindy said grimly. "The IAFW requires my attendance as the Bureau's representative to the Administrative Council. The Prime Minister called me at my office today and nearly gave my secretary a heart attack."

"This is the worst thing that could have happened," Chrono spat acidly. "How did they find out? The leak cannot possibly be from within NSIS. Neither side of this incident would benefit from this information becoming public."

"The newsie said, 'reliable sources within the Administrative Council,' so I can take a pretty good guess," Lindy said wearily. "There was no mention of the schism within NSIS, so I'm pretty sure the leak's in my office. I'm sorry I let this happen, Chrono."

"No sense in blaming yourself," Chrono replied darkly. "What the hell am I going to do now, Mother?"

"Whatever you do, it's not going to be good enough for the Council," Lindy pointed out truthfully. "They've been looking for any good excuse to exert tighter control over the Bureau—and they just found one."

"Great. Just great. Thanks to the leak, now the whole world is going to view Celica as a murderer."

"Get to the bottom of this," Lindy said sternly, clearly an order. "That's the only thing you can do now that the cat's out of the bag. Uncover the motives of this rogue faction within NSIS—and put a stop to them. If you do that, best-case scenario? You may be able to resign with dignity."

"I know," Chrono said hoarsely. "Maybe it's time to move on."

"Try not to worry about it tonight, dear," Lindy said in a motherly tone, draping her arm over her son's shoulders. "Tonight we belong to the kids and Amy, so for their sakes, we shouldn't be bringing work home with us."

_The shit's going to hit the fan tomorrow,_ thought Chrono darkly as he allowed his mother to lead him back to the staff car. _The least I can do tonight is be a good father while their grandmother is visiting._


	6. Chapter 6

_Unknown location  
08.30.0088_

_Where the fuck am I?_

Celica's eyes fluttered open slowly with much difficulty. They felt dry and crusty; she instinctively moved her hand up to wipe the gunk away from them, but found that her arm wouldn't obey her mind's command.

_Oh._

Her body wouldn't move even a millimeter, but her thoughts were unimpeded. She attempted to reorganize the clutter in her mind while simultaneously surveying her newfound surroundings. The room she was kept in was clearly a cell, but one of a kind she had never seen before.

The room was perhaps three meters square and two and a half meters high. The walls were a smooth, unbroken gray—Celica could not even discern any indication of a door or any other means of egress. The wall was so featureless that she had a hard time focusing on any one spot—likely an intentional move by her captors, in order to further unbalance and confuse her.

Her first thought was that the prison was magical in nature, locking her body and Linker Core to a tiny extradimensional pocket, but when she focused on the lines of force flowing through the air, she detected... nothing at all. Not only was the prison nonmagical, but a very powerful antimagic field permeated the area. She could barely notice her own Linker Core, and she could not gather any magical energy whatsoever.

It took her several more moments of mental number-crunching, but she eventually figured it out. The bottom of the smooth gray walls showed the tiniest seam where the wall met the floor. The cell was essentially an enormous (and enormously heavy) metal box that was simply dropped down over the imprisoned individual. A small gap in the AMF at the top of the cell enabled a magical light to shine within, as well as ensuring Celica did not die of asphyxiation.

It was an ingenious design, almost totally escape-proof. Her captors must have significant resources—and a very good reason—to not only spare her life, but to keep her locked up so tightly that she had no chance of escaping.

Even without the heavy AMF, without Tizona, Celica would never be able to escape. Her Device did much of the heavy lifting when it came to her magic, especially that of the destructive type. Bereft of her weapon, Celica could barely be classified as a D-ranked trainee.

_Wonder how long it'll be before they come and pay me a visit, _Celica thought idly, her eyes focusing on her own body to keep from becoming nauseous. The eye didn't like to have no focal point. Her captors had stripped her of her Barrier Jacket, an easy task upon separating her from her Device, and had not bothered to clean her up or give her a change of clothes. She was naked and dirty, still covered in various scrapes and bruises. Her hair had been matted to one side of her head, caked with blood from the blows that had knocked her unconscious.

Despair threatened to well up within her—so thoroughly had her captors denied her of any advantage that the situation felt hopeless, but Celica resolutely set her shoulders (at least, as well as she could with her limited motor control). Lutecia had undoubtedly returned to report to the admiral with everything that Celica had discovered.

They would come rescue her, Celica knew. The only thing she could do at this point would be to sabotage her captors' plans as much as she could. Undoubtedly they had some sort of purpose for her, else Abraham Stele would have killed her outright.

Celica closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. She would likely need the rest, and there wasn't a whole lot she could do until she could move her body again. The enemy would soon show themselves, and she wanted to be ready for any opportunity.

* * *

_Lutecia's apartment  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
08.30.0088_

Lutecia Alphine was awoken to the sound of loud banging on her front door. She struggled to sit up in bed, levering her body into a more vertical position. Bleary-eyed, she tossed back the covers and slowly, carefully stood up. Her muscles screamed in protest, but the loud banging on her door didn't stop. Scowling in annoyance, Lutecia addressed her Device.

"Asclepius, who is banging on the front door?"

"It is Agent Stormhawk," the Intelligent Device answered promptly. The violet-haired summoner's scowl instantly softened, knowing that her longtime friend within NSIS was likely upset—or more accurately, extremely pissed off—that he had been kept out of the loop. Lutecia knew he probably heard through the Shadows' grapevine that his best friend had been hospitalized for injuries yet again.

Lutecia had no idea that Celica's predicament had become public knowledge.

The banging increased in volume and impatience. Lutecia sighed heavily and pulled a thick terrycloth bathrobe over her naked form, doffing a pair of house slippers and heading toward the front door of her small but stylish Midchildan apartment. Asclepius helpfully disengaged the auto-lock and Lutecia opened the door to see a scowling Victor Stormhawk.

"Alphine, what the _fuck_ is going on?"

"It's nice to see you, too, Storm," Lutecia said coldly, not appreciating the man's attitude in the slightest. Her body ached all over and she was still very tired; she was not in the most patient of moods.

"I just saw the news this morning," Storm continued, apparently not noticing or ignoring Lutecia's tone. "They're saying Celica is a murderer, that she killed three guards and busted up Headquarters a week ago!"

Lutecia's jaw dropped nearly to the floor. "It leaked?"

"I see this is news to you, too," Storm said grimly. "Can I come in? I think I deserve an explanation."

The summoner sighed heavily and nodded, the cold look in her eyes disappearing, leaving behind a sort of unspeakable weariness that Victor had seen in her eyes with disturbing frequency. The male combat mage walked into the small apartment and plopped down on the couch, staring up at Lutecia expectantly.

"At least let me go take a shower and get dressed, first. I just woke up to hear you banging on my front door."

"All right, I'll wait here," Storm said grudgingly, his palms pressed to his thighs impatiently. Lutecia disappeared into the back of the apartment, shutting the door behind her. Victor settled in to wait, but was interrupted by a soft chirping sound from his Device.

"Who is it, Stella?"

"Admiral Harlaown," the AI replied curtly. Storm nodded and mentally completed the communications link. A holographic display materialized in the air before him, showing the exhausted face of Chrono Harlaown, not dressed in his uniform or Barrier Jacket, but in civilian clothing.

"Agent Stormhawk, you're at Lutecia's place now, correct?"

"She's in the shower."

"I don't have a lot of time to talk about this—I'm supposed to be Dad today, not Admiral Harlaown, but I will tell you this: do not blame Lutecia for what has happened. This is solely my responsibility, and I involved her after considerable debate and deliberation."

Storm shrugged the insinuation off. "I figured as much."

"I know you're concerned about Celica, but do yourself a favor and ignore the media. They don't know even an iota of the true story and they're spinning the official corruption perpetrated by the Administration. You know the Council doesn't like our little organization."

"I know. Admiral, did she really do what they're saying?"

The admiral was silent for a long moment before answering, "Yes, Agent Stormhawk. Senior Analyst Iris-Lynnfield did kill three Security Division officers, but there's much more going on than you are aware of. Lutecia knows as much as I do, if not more. I was hoping that this could have remained secret, but the leak has let the cat out of the bag."

"You're authorizing the sharing of operational intelligence?"

"Correct. If Agent Alphine protests, have her contact me on the secure channel. I will authorize it to her directly."

"Thank you, Admiral," murmured Storm softly. Admiral Harlaown nodded and closed the connection just as Lutecia opened the door, walking out of the back room wearing her blue Naval Forces uniform, sans shoes, which sat in the foyer next to the front door. Victor thought she still looked a little weary, but it was almost a night-and-day transformation.

_Women are good at that sort of thing,_ he thought idly.

"You spoke to the admiral," Lutecia stated. It was not a question.

"He called me just now, authorizing the sharing of operational intelligence. I think he believes that now the secret is out, containing the problem is a bigger concern than containing the information."

Lutecia sat down on the cushion next to Victor. It was then that he noticed something that made his blood run cold: Lutecia held a small blue-crystal shard earring in her right hand. It was unmistakably Celica's Interface Device, Tizona, something that should _never_ be away from her unless it had been signed over to Engineering for maintenance.

"Celica isn't dead, Storm," Lutecia said before the man could ask. "She's been captured by a renegade faction within NSIS. For what purpose, I can only speculate, but right now, it's more important that you know the whole story. Tizona will help me tell it."

"Of course, Agent Alphine," the shard said in its clear masculine voice, glowing softly with blue-white radiance.

* * *

_Unknown location  
08.30.0088_

Celica woke to the sound of heavy machinery and strong vibrations. Her gray eyes blinked a few times as she noticed the air temperature seemed to drop slightly. It wasn't long after that the top "box" section of her cell lifted upward on a hydraulic arm, gently rising two meters into the air before locking into place.

She levered herself into a sitting position and was not surprised at what she saw. The rest of the room was paneled in the same featureless gray metal, and it was expansive. There were at least forty of the "box" cells within the large room, most of them closed, likely around some unfortunate prisoner.

There was only one path in or out of the cell block, and it was sealed with a massive metal door flanked by two guards dressed in Barrier Jackets, armed with the conventional Bureau Storage Devices and heavy linear rifles.

Two more guards stood, their rifles aimed directly at her vital areas, to either side of the cell. Directly in front of her stood Abraham Stele, not wearing his knight's armor, but instead wearing civilian clothing.

"Stand up," the enormous Belkan knight demanded harshly. Celica complied, knowing that he would certainly lash out at her if she displayed any semblance of defiance. Stele nodded curtly and an aide appeared from behind him, bearing an armful of what looked like women's clothing and some bath products.

"Take them and go clean yourself up," Stele rumbled. "This guard will accompany you." He motioned to one of the door guards, the only female in the room. Celica nodded once and took the armful of garments and toiletries without comment. Stele turned away, speaking rapidly in a low tone to his aide.

"This way, miss," the female guard said politely; the linear rifle held expertly in her grasp ensured she did not need to shout. Even in full combat readiness, Celica would have trouble defending against the weapon at point-blank range.

Celica obediently followed the guard down the corridor, outwardly oblivious to her bedraggled appearance. Armed guards patrolled the hallways, and Celica could make out several electronic listening devices and cameras. The heavy AMF permeated most of the corridor; Celica could still barely sense her own Linker Core, much less those of others.

_Must be why all the guards have linear rifles,_ she mused thoughtfully. _The crystal cells should still function within the field, but anything with more energy draw would fail. Wonder how far the field extends?_

"Here we are, miss," the guard stated suddenly, pulling up to a stop next to an unmarked door, the same silvery color as everything else. Celica wondered briefly how the guards managed to find anything in this strange facility, with none of the doors marked and no signs or maps.

It was then that Celica noticed the shimmer of flickering light reflecting off the guard's blue eye; the woman had an augmented-reality display, likely projected from her Device. Even within the AMF, such a small use of magical energy would remain unhindered.

_They certainly have a fetish for incredible security._

"There is a shower and toilet inside this room," the guard continued. "There is only one way in or out. I will remain outside while you bathe and dress. You have one hour."

_Before she comes in and drags me out,_ Celica finished silently. To the guard, she said, "Thank you. I'll be quick."

The silver door slid open soundlessly and Celica walked into a utilitarian yet fully-appointed bathroom, complete with a shower, vanity mirror and toilet. She sorted through the clothing, careful not to smear any dirt or dried blood on the pristine fabric.

Stele had provided her with civilian clothing that fit closely with the styles Celica preferred. She glanced at the labels and wasn't terribly surprised to discover that everything was her exact size. It was a scare tactic, she knew—Stele was trying to rattle her. Of course they knew everything there was to know about her; they undoubtedly pulled her dossier from NSIS's servers long ago.

_Well, it won't work_, thought Celica resolutely. Having nothing else to do, she set the clothes down gently and picked up the washcloth, soap and other bath products. The dirt, grime and blood wouldn't clean itself from her body, and gods' above only knew what this had done to her hair!

* * *

The door slid open and Celica walked out. The guard's thin black eyebrow arched in mild surprise—the confident, beautiful woman that just stepped out of the bathroom could not have been the half-dead girl with blood-caked hair she had just escorted from the cell block. But of course, it was Celica Iris-Lynnfield, looking and feeling much better than she had a mere half hour before.

"They sure treat prisoners well around here," Celica remarked, rubbing a stray smudge of pink lipstick from the corner of her mouth with a long index finger. "They even brought me makeup."

"I have been ordered to escort you to the Admiral's office," the guard said, ignoring Celica's sardonic observation. "Please follow me."

Celica complied wordlessly, more curious than worried now. There weren't many Naval Forces flag officers within NSIS; that tidbit of information coupled with the data Tizona had been able to pull allowed Celica to have the advantage of knowing exactly who she would be speaking with.

The guard led her down an increasingly dizzying series of corridors, turns and crosscuts leading to another unmarked gray door. This one looked a little different, however—Celica could just barely detect the presence of a touch-sensitive keypad traced on the center of the door. Likely the augmented-reality system would illuminate the just-barely-visible pad with symbols. Her escort tapped a series of characters on the keypad and waited until a soft chime sounded.

With a soft hiss, the door slid open.

"Enter," the guard said. "I am to remain here."

Celica nodded and walked into the room—a welcome change from the solid unbroken silvery-gray. The office was richly appointed with dark wood paneling, overstuffed leather chairs and a massive desk cut from a single bone taken from some gigantic alien creature.

Old-fashioned leather-bound books lined two of the walls, while the other two were lined with a much more motley collection of mismatched media—some Celica recognized as Belkan and old Midchildan, some that she knew to have originated from other worlds not directly under the Bureau's jurisdiction.

Sitting behind the desk, his hands clasped on his lap, sat the Deputy Director of Naval Special Intelligence Service, Rear Admiral Thomas Hayes. Celica didn't know that much about the man personally—like most of the Shadows, she did not interact with the political side of the organization.

While the Director tended to be a hands-on leader who deeply involved himself with his most powerful (and by extension, most risky) agents, his second-in-command was more concerned with ensuring that NSIS remained obfuscated to the outside world while simultaneously expanding its political influence.

NSIS was Admiral Hayes' life, Celica knew. The man had no family—his wife and children had been killed in a terrorist attack while he was still a clerk in the Naval Forces. It was that pain that drove him into NSIS, and eventually as one of the first Shadows under Admiral Graham's command, but Hayes was not a warrior. He was a consummate politician, a deal-maker and a smooth-talker. He transferred to a liaison position and quickly rose through the ranks within the Naval Forces, returning to full-time duty within NSIS years later as Graham's second.

And now here he was—as far as Celica was aware, Admiral Hayes was the single highest-ranking Shadow to ever have gone rogue. Not only that, but this was a betrayal from the _inside_. Who knew exactly the extent of Hayes' subversion? Celica could not say, but perhaps the information could be extracted from the man.

_Magic won't be of any use here, though,_ Celica thought bitterly. The AMF was strongest within this office; the presence of the field was almost physically smothering. Celica could scarcely detect her own Linker Core and the sensation left her feeling almost ill.

"You don't look so well, Iris-Lynnfield," Hayes said without preamble. "Is the strength of the AMF affecting you that much?"

"You know that's true, else you wouldn't be asking."

"Fair enough," the admiral said, shrugging. He locked steel-hard eyes on Celica's and placed his palms upon the surface of the desk. "No pleasantries; I'll get right to the point. We want you to activate the Precursor Artifact."

"Sure, I'll get right on—wait, you want me to _what_?"

"We want you to activate the Precursor Artifact," the admiral continued, his tone even and unperturbed.

"Are you crazy?" Celica demanded. "That—that _thing_, we don't even know what it _does_. And you want me to turn it _on_? Assuming I'm even capable of doing such a thing? The system it's based on is something we've never encountered before—"

"Don't be absurd," Admiral Hayes admonished good-naturedly. "We know exactly what the Artifact does, which is precisely _why_ we need you to help us turn it on. This facility cannot become fully operational without it."

Celica stared at the man quizzically. Hayes folded his hands back in his lap and nodded toward a leather chair at one corner of the desk. Celica sat down and gave the man an icy stare.

"I do not have the time to give you as complete an explanation as I would like, but I will tell you as much as I can. This place is an ancient facility built by the Precursors, the Al'hazred. It has an ancient name that is not easily pronounced by the human tongue, but perhaps you know it better by the NSIS code name: the Factory."

"This is the Factory?" Celica blurted. "But I thought we had no idea where it was, and that NSIS had been looking for it almost since we were first chartered!"

"Yes, this is the Factory, and yes, NSIS has no idea where it is. But I _do_ know where it is, and we are here now, thanks to the efforts of Abraham Stele. It was he who located the Factory, you see, when he was still a Ground Forces mage."

"So the tinker toy is... what? A power source?"

"Close, but incorrect," Hayes said. "The Precursor Artifact is actually an Al'hazred Device—to be specific, it is a processing core that controls the various systems within the Factory. Without the Artifact, we cannot use the Factory's greatest technologies. It has taken us this long merely to activate the facility's security and electrical systems, so different are they from our own technology. But there are similarities, especially to ancient Belkan systems."

"The Belkans descended from the Precursors," Celica reasoned.

"Yes, and Midchilda was once a Belka colony world," continued Hayes, smiling tightly. "The Precursors, the Al'hazred, are the origin point of humanity. They colonized a great many worlds, overreached their own power and through their arrogance and hubris, destroyed themselves. The Al'hazred homeworld has been lost within the null space between dimensions, but countless remnants have been left behind."

"Lost Logia."

"Correct. The Factory is the single greatest collection of Al'hazred technology left in existence, and with this facility... unlimited power can be attained. The Factory is aptly named; this place was a seeding facility for Al'hazred sorcerers. The technology here is capable of artificially strengthening a human Linker Core to heretofore unseen levels of capacity."

"The strange artificial mages—"

"Were created in a smaller, less-advanced facility similar to this one," Hayes confirmed. "Jail Scaglietti located bits and pieces of Al'hazred technology over his long and illustrious career. It was with these remnants that he was able to complete the early stages of Project Fate. But without a complete understanding of the Precursors' methods, Scaglietti went down a different research path."

"The Combat Cyborgs," Celica noted. Hayes nodded and tapped a few commands on his console. Celica was surprised as several holographic displays materialized before her, far too many to overcome the strength of the anti-field.

_The Al'hazred core logic must work in such a different way that a normal AMF doesn't affect it,_ Celica thought, intrigued. It wasn't a very useful bit of information now, but it would possibly come in handy later. She filed it away in the back of her mind and returned her attention to the admiral's data.

"Artificial mages and combat cyborgs are crude and primitive in comparison to the methods of the Precursors. Both require intensive and expensive maintenance, and both can behave erratically in unforeseen conditions. The Al'hazred method simply acts upon the Linker Core alone. Any human can undergo the procedure, and the results are remarkable."

"When this facility becomes fully operational, anyone with a Linker Core, active or dormant, can achieve the capacity of... what? Am I reading this correctly?" Celica demanded.

"I cannot say with one hundred percent certainty, no," Hayes explained, "but according to all of our simulations, once the Linker Core augment systems are operational, it will be possible to rapidly manufacture _SSS-class mages. _With no danger whatsoever to the subjects.

"And the best part—the best part is that while the subjects are undergoing Linker Core stimulation and augmentation, we can program directives that cannot be disobeyed. With the Factory, we can create an unstoppable army that is unswervingly loyal. With the Factory operational, Midchilda will become the dominant power in the multiverse!"

_With you at its head,_ thought Celica cynically, but she dared not interrupt the admiral's rant.

"No one will be able to stand against us—not the Vartis, not the other dimensional civilizations, _nothing!_ The tragedies of the past will never again be repeated. No one will be able to stop us."

Celica briefly wondered why Chrono ever allowed this man to continue as NSIS's Deputy Director. _He's clearly off his rocker—the deaths of his wife and children have led him down the conqueror's path, obsessively seeking power beyond his own comprehension._

The admiral tightly clasped his hands together again, leaning forward to stare at Celica with a preadatory gaze. "And you, my dear, will help us achieve this most lofty of goals. If you cooperate, you will be hailed as the great arcanist who ushered in a golden age of progress for the Midchildan people.

"If you refuse, I will order Abraham Stele to kill Lutecia Alphine, Victor Stormhawk, Chrono Harlaown and Vivio Takamachi... and when he is finished destroying everything and everyone you care for, I will order him to kill you slowly."

Celica's gray eyes glared at the man with undisguised contempt.

"Not much of a choice, is it?

* * *

_Infinity Library  
Time-Space Administration Main Office  
08.30.0088_

"Cia!"

Lutecia glanced over her shoulder only mere moments before a blur of blond hair and smiles crashed into her, hugging her tightly and nearly bowling her over with the force of the collision.

"Vi, you're hurting me," Lutecia murmured belatedly. The blond girl giggled and released her girlfriend from the crushing bear hug but didn't let her go completely.

"What are you doing here, Cia?" Vivio wanted to know. "Work again? Do you need me to go get Yuuno?"

"Actually I'm here to talk to you about something... and ask you a favor. Storm, stop hiding in the shadows back there. You can come out."

Victor grinned sheepishly as he walked from behind a nearby corner, standing stiffly beside Lutecia, his gaze pointedly falling on Vivio's ample chest. Lutecia snorted softly and jabbed an elbow none-too-gently into the man's ribs.

"Oof," Victor muttered, laughing and rubbing his sore ribs with a palm. "Okay, okay, I'll stop fooling around. This is serious business, here. Is there somewhere private we can all speak?"

"The conservation room," Vivio said immediately. "It's used by arcanists to study the hazardous tomes we keep sealed within the Library. It can be locked and sealed magically so nobody can overhear."

"That's perfect," Victor muttered. Vivio led the two Shadows toward a small room off the main zero-gee section of the Library, where the artificial gravity was still in effect. Lutecia and Victor went in, sitting down on the chairs arranged near a large study table. Vivio came in last, closing the door behind her and sealing the lock with a quick spell.

"Nobody should be able to hear or see what we're doing in here," Vivio said with a sly grin. "It's too bad you brought _him_ with you, or—"

Lutecia coughed self-consciously, glaring at Victor, who seemed to be on the verge of explosive laughter. "Vi, this is serious. Something terrible has happened, and we need your help."

Seeing the despair in her lover's eyes prompted Vivio to change gears; her impish humor seemed to fade away, replaced by a solemn, almost regal bearing. "What's going on, Cia?"

"It's about work," Lutecia said quickly, not bothering to dress it up with pretty words. "One of my very good friends has been taken prisoner. We have to rescue her, but Admiral Harlaown will not authorize any other Shadows besides the two of us. We..." Lutecia gulped hard. She didn't like this. She didn't enjoy asking for help, and she absolutely did not wish to place Vivio in harm's way.

Fortunately, Victor was far more objective about the situation.

"We need your help, Takamachi," Victor said bluntly. "We have to find her, and then we have to break her out of wherever she's being held, and that means fighting against overwhelming odds. I know that the blood of the Sankt Kaiser runs through your veins—you have the Saint's Armor. There are very few mages who can break through your defenses."

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Lutecia said suddenly, trying very hard to ignore the resolute, excited expression on Vivio's face. "I mean, what will Nanoha say if she knew we were taking—"

"I'm an adult now, Cia," said Vivio clearly. "I don't even live with Nanoha-mama anymore. I am fully capable of making my _own _decisions about my _own_ life."

"But you have no real combat experience—"

"Neither did Nanoha-mama when Yuuno asked her to help him with the Jewel Seed incident, and she was only a child at the time," Vivio retorted. "You came to ask me for help, Cia. I'm so happy that you did. I hate that you always think you have to take care of everything yourself. I _want_ to help you rescue your friend. I may never have met her, but she's special to _you_, and you are special to _me._"

"Actually, you have met her," Victor remarked offhandedly. "She came in here a few days ago under an alias and carted out a ton of data on ancient Lost Logia."

"Yukari Nakamura," said Vivio instantly, the memory springing into her mind with ease. "She seemed a little strange, and her appearance didn't really match the name—I mean, she wasn't like Nanoha-mama or Aunt Hayate..."

"That's because it's not her real name," Victor continued. "Her name is Celica Iris-Lynnfield, and she's one of the best computer geeks we've got. She's been taken prisoner and her life is very likely in danger."

"Cia," Vivio began, her gaze switching from Victor to her lover. "Of course I'll help. I may not have as much combat experience as you do—" she paused, wincing at the bitter memories that surfaced—"but I'm not completely defenseless. Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama taught me a lot, and I've spent long hours sparring with Erio and Caro."

"This won't be a nice sparring match, Takamachi," Victor warned darkly. "The people we're going to be going up against are fiercely determined to complete their mission. They won't let Celica go without one hell of a fight."

"That's not even the only problem we have," Lutecia put in. "We don't know where they took her, and it's not going to be easy finding her."

"They wanted the Lost Logia badly enough to do all of this," Victor stated. "It stands to gain that it has some very important use. Perhaps they've gone to ground in order to do whatever it is they want with the thing."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Lutecia replied wearily.

"Yuuno might be able to dig up some leads for us," Vivio said helpfully. Lutecia and Victor both nodded curtly.

Without a word, Vivio sent a mental command to her Device, Burning Glory, and made a communications call to Dr. Scrya, thousands of light-years away on Midchilda heading up an archaeological dig.

* * *

_Three hours later:_

Yuuno Scrya walked into the main foyer of the Infinity Library; the three younger mages surprised to see the man clad in his Barrier Jacket, the protective garment streaked with dirt and grime.

"Vivio, I came as soon as I could," Yuuno said seriously, wiping sweat from his brow. The defensive mage had undoubtedly ran from the long-range transfer port all the way to the Library, as it was quicker than requesting permission to use movement magic within the station.

"Dr. Scrya," Victor said respectfully, inclining his head in a slight bow. Lutecia waved but did not say anything. Yuuno frowned, wondering why the three of them were together like this—and with such grim expressions written across their faces.

"This is Victor Stormhawk, and you know Lutecia," Vivio said, making the introductions. Victor nodded and smiled slightly as Lutecia launched into the explanation, her fear and uncertainty draining away in the face of her professionalism as a Shadow.

"Dr. Scrya, we have some things to talk about. Something to tell you, and a favor to ask of you."

"Go ahead," Yuuno said neutrally.

Lutecia told him.

Yuuno said nothing for a long moment, his mind picking apart the story and the request from every possible angle. After a few more moments of sorting through the catalog of information in his head, Yuuno beckoned for the three to follow him.

"Come with me, I think I may have something that will help you," Yuuno said simply. He stepped off the edge into the main Library sphere; despite the fact that the "bottom" of the library was nearly a kilometer straight down, Yuuno did not fall. The station's artificial gravity generators were suspended around the Library, enabling the storage of far more media in a smaller area.

The four were soon using their own magic to propel themselves through the zero-gee environment. Yuuno led the group, heading directly for a floating shelf filled with the heavy tomes penned by ancient Belkan authors.

"Of the Precursors, the Al'hazred, we know very little, except that their civilization existed long before Ancient Belka. It is surmised that the Al'hazred are the precursor civilization to Belka, hence the title."

"And of course, Midchildans were once Belkan subjects," Vivio pointed out.

"Yes. In any case, the Al'hazred may be gone, but small remnants of their existence still remain. If the Lost Logia in question is truly of Al'hazred make, it could be virtually anything. Let me take a look at the data here... ah, yes."

Yuuno tapped a few commands into the console and a much larger holographic display materialized in front of Lutecia, Victor and Vivio, displaying a full-range three-dimensional projection of the pyramidal Lost Logia.

"It doesn't look much like a weapon," Victor remarked. "Perhaps it's some type of energy storage device?"

"According to the readings pulled from Tizona's memory core," Lutecia began, "it's not an energy storage device or a power generator, nor is it a weapon. The artifact is dormant, but Tizona was able to discover a few things about it. Take a look here."

Lutecia sent a silent command to her Device, sending several more pages of data to join the holographic model of the Lost Logia. Victor and Yuuno both studied the sensor readings, but it was the other Shadow who spoke first.

"It's a computer," he said softly. "Has to be."

"What? What makes you think that?"

Victor turned to Lutecia and gave her a triumphant smile. "Think about it for a moment, Alphine. It's not a weapon, nor is it a power generator or energy storage device. None of the obvious things Lost Logia usually are. And then they take Celica, kidnap her..."

Lutecia's jaw dropped open.

"... because they need her _alive,_" finished Victor, looking almost smug. "Why would they keep her alive?"

"Because they need to do something that only she can do," Lutecia replied. "So what? Now that we know what the Lost Logia is, how does that help us? We still don't know where Celica has been taken."

"That part I believe I can help you with," Yuuno said grimly. "I have a list of sites where we suspect Al'hazred ruins may be located. It's a pretty large list, but it may be useful to you. I'll send it to Asclepius before you leave."

"Thank you, Dr. Scrya," Lutecia said graciously. "What should we do now?"

"Stele cut himself off from the NSIS network," Victor noted, "but trying to hide his magical presence is almost impossible. I think we should examine the sensor logs and see if we can find out where he went, cross-checking it against Dr. Scrya's list."

"Let's get to work, then," Vivio said. Both Shadows nodded, exchanging the proper farewells and floating back toward the platform leading to the Library's foyer. Upon returning to normal artificial gravity, the three mages quickly made their way from the Library and out into the atrium.

Lutecia was startled by the sound of Victor's voice in her mind. Clearly, the other Shadow did not want Vivio to overhear.

_Alphine, I don't think we should rely on NSIS resources for this mission._

_Why?_ Lutecia wanted to know.

_We don't know who's really on our side. Other than the admiral, I think we should maintain radio silence and avoid using any NSIS computer or data resources. We don't know who might be listening in, and without Celica... _Victor trailed off meaningfully.

_... we can't encrypt our queries,_ Lutecia finished for him. _All right, I agree. We're on our own for this one._

_The admiral may not be able to help us much,_ Victor replied silently, _but I know someone with considerable influence and power who might be able to._

_

* * *

_

_Unknown location  
08.30.0088_

Celica frowned and the tip of her tongue protruded slightly from the corner of her mouth as she pored over an incomprehensible babble of unfamiliar code. She wiped sweat from her brow; the computer center was insufferably hot, and because the network was offline, she could only access the main data infrastructure _physically_ through a small diagnosis terminal. This terminal had been jury-rigged through a spliced connection to a portable number-cruncher.

The equipment her captors provided her couldn't hold a candle to Tizona's capabilities, but they were about as good as she could have expected. There was no way her captors would let her have another Interface Device, even if Tizona was not unique.

The problems were much more fundamental than could be overcome with brute-force processing power, though Tizona was often very creative in deciphering unknown core logic.

The problem was this: the Al'hazred used a system so utterly different than modern Midchildan that the "dumb" equipment couldn't make heads or tails of it. It came out as garbage data, and Celica was unsure if she could activate the artifact or not.

_It's not like I have any actual intention of turning this thing on for them,_ Celica told herself idly. _I just want to find out if I can use it against them in some way, but with all these..._

Hayes and his lackey, Stele, had not left Celica unattended. She had a group of six technicians and computer experts following her around everywhere, and wherever the technicians went, two guards armed with linear rifles _also_ went. Celica rightly suspected that the techs were not there to actually help her, but to make sure she wasn't doing anything to sabotage her captors' efforts.

Other than making sure she had three meals a day and a warm place to sleep when her eyes would no longer remain open, they had done precisely nothing except watch her.

"Ah, Iris-Lynnfield, I see you are hard at work," a bemused voice rumbled behind her. She turned to see Abraham Stele standing beside the open door leading from the computer center toward the endless procession of silvery-gray corridors.

"Hardly working is more correct," Celica muttered under her breath. Stele either did not hear or ignored the comment and stared down at her from his towering height.

"How much longer will it take?"

"I have no way of knowing," Celica said without turning around. She knew the big knight would not harm her; they could not risk delaying the reactivation of the Factory. "The core logic used by this network is unlike anything I've ever worked with. Very distant similarities to ancient Belkan, but much more sophisticated—perhaps even more so than modern Midchildan systems."

"I will not make a foolish demand that you complete the task before a deadline set in stone," Stele began, "but I advise you to be quick about it. Admiral Hayes has much less patience than I."

"Hayes will just have to wait," Celica said, deliberately leaving the man's title off. As far as Celica was concerned, Hayes had abandoned his rank and standing within the Naval Forces upon betraying NSIS. It didn't seem to have the intended effect; Stele merely ignored the slight.

"He will not wait long, Iris-Lynnfield," Stele said threateningly. "I do not wish to kill you—you are a worthy adversary and a powerful mage. Midchilda needs you and your skills. Do not waste them foolishly opposing us. We are the future of Midchilda, the harbingers of a new and invincible empire."

"It's still going to take time," Celica reiterated pointedly. "This core logic is no longer in use by anyone. It'll take me a while just to decode it into something the computer can recognize."

"I don't doubt your words," Stele said honestly. "Very well, Iris-Lynnfield. I will inform the admiral of your progress. See to it that you continue to work just as hard."

_Oh yes, I'll be working hard,_ Celica thought, her face burning with impotent rage. There wasn't much she could do at this point, however. Security within the Factory was nigh-impregnable, and she was not offered even the slightest chance that she could leverage into an escape.

All that she could do now would be to stall... and learn as much as she possibly could about the Factory and the Al'hazred.

* * *

author's notes:

It's been a _long fucking time_ since I put out a chapter, I know, but I'm going to be back in it for a while (at least until school starts again), hopefully until it's completely done!

(Though once that happens, it won't be the end of my writing in this fandom...)

Anyway... so this chapter, answers a lot of long-standing questions my readers have likely had, I'm sure.

This chapter will also not make any sense to people who only read the original, un-revised Chapter 5, as events in that chapter contradict the foundations of this chapter.

Every chapter of _false light _has been edited for consistency with Beamers' writing. It would really be a better idea to re-read the whole shebang from start to finish, but the most important changes are in Chapter 5 (all the other changes were mostly minor, character history and timeline changes).


	7. Chapter 7

_Ground Forces HQ  
Traffic Control/IFF Database  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
09.01.0088_

Victor Stormhawk sighed heavily, rubbing his bleary eyes as hundreds of lines of locational data scrolled across the projected display. He wasn't alone, however; both Lutecia and Vivio sat at identical consoles, scanning over the massive amounts of sensor log data collected by the various probes scattered throughout dimensional space.

The Bureau made a habit of seeding areas of interest with long-range probes, small Device-like satellites that took various readings. Most of the data was of no use to the companions—temperature data, readings on the planets and stars various status. The sensor probes were also configured to detect unusual magical signatures. The individual Linker Cores of mages would not likely be detectable amidst all the background information, but the fish _they_ were attempting to catch was the big one.

Abraham Stele's Linker Core was rated at SS-rank capacities, and the Bureau's ranking system was a _logarithmic_ scale, not a linear one. An SS-ranked mage was an order of magnitude more easy to detect via sensor probes than an S-rank.

Still, it would not be easy at all. So much data to sift through, and time was not on their side. The more time passed, the greater the danger to Celica. Victor grunted softly and returned his attention to the data scrolling across the screen.

"This is getting us nowhere," Lutecia growled in frustration. "Either the sensitivity isn't calibrated correctly, or Stele has discovered a way to mask his Linker Core's signature. He isn't showing up on any of the worlds on Yuuno's list."

"It has to be in here somewhere," Victor said mildly. "Unless you have a better idea?"

"Not really," Lutecia said gloomily, turning back to her screen. Vivio leaned over from her terminal and tapped Victor on the shoulder.

"I actually... think I might have a better idea. Faster, anyway."

Both Shadows turned to the young woman, staring at her quizzically. Vivio blushed slightly, but set her shoulders resolutely and forged ahead.

"There is one person I can think of who knows more about Lost Logia than anyone in the Bureau, even Yuuno..." Vivio trailed off meaningfully, making a small motion with her fingers. "But I don't know."

"Who are you talking about?" Victor wanted to know, staring hard at Vivio. The blond girl opened her mouth to reply, but Lutecia was faster.

"Jail Scaglietti," the summoner said thoughtfully. "Of course he would know more." Victor stared at the two women blankly for a long moment, a stunned expression written across his face.

"Jail Scaglietti, the criminal who created the combat cyborgs, artificial mages, nearly destabilized the entire Midchildan system, unearthed the ancient Belkan dreadnought _Saint's Cradle _and started the basis for Project F? You mean _that_ Jail Scaglietti?"

"Yeah, Storm. _That_ Scaglietti," Lutecia said matter-of-factly.

"You're both crazy," Victor said incredulously. "We're doing this very, very off-the-record. Do you really think that the Bureau's highest-security orbital prison is just going to let us _drop in_ on the most hated criminal in recent history?"

"The Admiral—"

"Doesn't really have the authority to allow such a thing," Victor cut in. "In attaining his current position, he lost much of his influence in the regular forces. His heroic exploits have not aged well, either."

"This is our best shot, Storm," Lutecia insisted. "Nobody alive knows more about Lost Logia than he does. We may not be able to just show up and have a little chat with him, but perhaps there's another way."

"We could try talking to Fate-mama. She might be able to pull some strings for us, get us a little time to speak with Scaglietti off-the-record. It wouldn't be very long, though, and it would be risky for Fate-mama..."

"Even _assuming_ she would go along with this insane plan," Victor objected, "what makes you think Scaglietti will even talk? Why would he help the people who imprisoned him?"

"Big ego," Lutecia said immediately. "Make him believe someone else is besting him, one-upping him, and he'll probably be glad to tell us. He's never been the tight-lipped type, anyway. Always going off on grand villain's expositions."

Victor stared at the other Shadow and frowned. "I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket here, but this seems like the best idea yet. Enforcer-Commandant Testarossa-Harlaown has the authority to do this thing without involving anyone else, so..."

"Let's go see Miss Harlaown, then," Lutecia said softly. Both Vivio and Victor nodded, packing up and shutting the terminals down.

* * *

_Unknown location  
09.01.0088_

Celica blinked her gray eyes exhaustedly, vainly attempting to moisten them. The rogue NSIS elements didn't harm her, but they sure didn't make her life very easy. She had only been allowed six hours for sleep and another hour to bathe; the rest of the day she spent poring over the Precursor Artifact.

She was hungry, but the guards wouldn't allow her a half-hour dinner break for another two hours. They obviously intended to force her to work on the problem for as much time as possible each day, banking on the hope that she'd make a breakthrough soon.

As the analyst ran several code-sniffers and began to examine what she believed to be a base fragment of the core logic, Celica wondered why she had been chosen for this task. She _was_ very good at what she did, but she was hardly the best choice for a task of this nature. She was an expert at _breaking into_ computer systems—not an expert on Lost Logia.

_Really, Dr. Scrya would have likely been a better candidate,_ thought Celica idly as she waited for the operations to complete. _Or they could have busted Scaglietti out of prison..._

It didn't make any sense. There were any number of experts out there that knew as much or more than she did, and most of them weren't expert spies and reasonably powerful mages. Without Tizona, Celica's skills were not nearly as impressive, and she could not leverage her magical ability effectively.

_So why me?_

That was a question Celica could not answer, but her musings were quickly forgotten when the computer let out a soft chime, signaling that the analysis was finished. She immediately focused on the output data and allowed herself a tight smile.

She'd found a way in—the very basics of the core logic used by the Al'hazred magic system could now be translated into modern Midchildan. Now, finally, she could really get to work—the computers would be able to talk to each other, at long last.

_This isn't just the computer's language, but the basics of how the Al'hazred used magic. There might be more useful information in here than I thought._ Celica glanced around, wary of the technicians assigned to make sure she didn't throw a spanner in the works. She didn't think any of them were as knowledgeable or as subtle as she, and she doubted that they would notice what she planned to do.

Already Celica had managed to translate the Al'hazred system to Midchildan. With some effort, she knew, it might be possible to actually _use_ Al'hazred magic. What she did not know was how effective it would be without the aid of a Device. The Precursors' understanding of magic and how it worked went far beyond that of Midchildan mages. The core logic was different; the results were similar, but the ancients took a different route to obtain them.

It was possible that using what was stored within, she might discover a way to circumvent the AMF that kept her more a prisoner than the guards. Stele was not a technical person; Celica did not think the Belkan warrior would anticipate something like this.

_Calm down and think,_ Celica told herself. _If this is even possible, you're only going to get one shot at this._

Sighing loudly in false exasperation, Celica returned to the computers, making sure the technicians and the guards could hear her outward expressions of frustration. She wanted to make sure that her keepers thought she had reached an impasse.

* * *

_Two hours later:_

"Here you are, miss. You have thirty minutes before you are required to return to your duties," the female guard, the same one from before, said politely. Celica gratefully accepted the small tray and moved away from her work, quickly eating the tasteless military rations without complaint.

_This tastes remarkably bland, but at least it's nutritious,_ she thought, shoveling another large bite of unidentifiable synthetic protein gruel into her mouth. It was like eating oatmeal without honey or sugar.

When Celica took her meal break, the technicians took theirs as well. They were gone, having left the computer center to a makeshift dining hall somewhere nearby. The guards remained, however, taking their meals near the doorway leading out, trying their best to avoid the elevated heat levels. Until the processing core was reactivated, the life support systems were only minimally functional. The computer center itself should have been kept much cooler than this, to ensure that the delicate devices did not overheat.

_It doesn't make much difference if they're all basically inactive and we have to power them up individually just to take a look inside,_ Celica thought as she scraped the last bits of her food from the tray. She sat the container down and leaned back against the silvery metal wall, closing her eyes as if she were taking a quick nap.

The guards were eating something that smelled much more appetizing than her gruel, and they appeared to be quite relaxed, secure in the fact that, bereft of a Device and within the field of a very powerful AMF, their charge had been effectively rendered harmless.

_Well, this is what their inattentiveness will earn them,_ Celica thought grimly. _If this even works._

The use of magic was something very similar to mathematics; there was a certain method, a formula or equation used to route the chaotic, formless power channeled through the Linker Core into a form that could be manipulated at will. The Anti-Magilink Field was essentially interference, a form of magical jamming that prevented common methods of access from functioning. As a result, Celica could barely detect the presence of her own Linker Core... at least, if she used the commonly-known and understood Modern Midchildan method.

The Al'hazred method had been lost to the mists of time after the fall of their civilization. Pieces of it survived over the centuries, seen within Ancient Belkan and Modern Belkan, but the original core logic of the Precursors was something that Celica alone now knew.

Celica fell deeply within her own mind, cutting out external input, ignoring the armed guards and their low-voiced conversation. She ignored the heat of the computer center, ignored the soft hum of her workstations. She blocked all external influences out as she worked to restructure the connection between herself and her Linker Core.

Her lips split into a wide grin. It would work. It _was _possible.

It wouldn't be an easy process and it would take some time, but it was possible. She opened her eyes and sighed heavily as the guards stood at attention, staring at her, their rifles held at the ready.

_The technicians will be back any minute now,_ she thought glumly. _I best make myself look busy._

_With any luck, I won't get a wink of sleep tonight._

_

* * *

_

_Enforcer-Commandant's Office  
Time-Space Administration Bureau Main Office  
09.01.0088_

Lutecia forced a polite smile at the woman behind the desk, trying hard not to let her impatience show. But the receptionist had become an obstruction, one that, in her current state, Lutecia wished nothing more than to instruct Garyuu to _remove_.

"Calm down, Alphine," Victor said, a note of warning in his voice. Lutecia sighed heavily and stepped back as the receptionist answered another call, ignoring the summoner's ire.

"Vivio, can't you do something?" Victor queried. Vivio nodded slightly.

"I can call her, but if she's in a meeting, it won't do us any good. The receptionist might be lying because we came in unannounced, though."

"Call her and find out," Lutecia growled. "I can feel my blood pressure rising."

"All right," Vivio replied, sending a mental command to her Device. The Intelligent Device, taking the form of a ring while in its suspended state, responded immediately and made the call.

A holographic display materialized in the air mere seconds after Vivio established the communications link. The porcelain-smooth face of Enforcer-Commandant Fate Testarossa-Harlaown appeared on the screen, her features turned up in a smile upon seeing Vivio, but her eyes remained sharp.

"I take it from your expression that you aren't just calling to say hello. Who's there with you? Are you in my office right now?"

"Colonel Harlaown," Victor began, cutting in before Vivio could reply, "we must speak with you privately on a matter of grave importance. A particularly thorny incident involving a Lost Logia and a missing Bureau member."

"Who am I speaking with?" Fate wanted to know.

"Warrant Officer Victor Stormhawk, TSAB Naval Forces," the blond man replied smartly, saluting without hesitation. It was an unfamiliar motion; the Shadows all held positions within the regular Navy, but rarely did they have to use the ranks in their day-to-day duties.

"And Lutecia is with you as well," Fate noted in a neutral tone. She knew of the younger Alphine's connection with NSIS and her job as a Shadow. The supreme commander of the Enforcers was smart enough to deduce that this Warrant Officer Stormhawk was also a Shadow.

"Fate-mama, we need your help," Vivio said earnestly. "Can you meet with us in private?"

"I'll clear my schedule. Give me a moment."

The projected communications pane vanished, leaving the three young mages in silence. The receptionist glanced up from her work, shrugging.

Lutecia broke the silence first. "Well, this is going better than I had hoped."

"Save that until you've told her your crackpot plan," Victor remarked acidly. "This is never going to work."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Storm," Lutecia said softly. "I know you're agitated right now—you know I'd be crawling up the walls if it had been _someone else_ instead of Celica. But we'll get her back, I'm sure of it."

Victor let out a deep breath and allowed his gaze to fall briefly on Vivio's shapely form. Of course, if it had been Vivio who was being held prisoner instead of Celica, Lutecia would not be the only one tearing the entire Bureau down around its own ears.

It stung Victor profoundly. Celica had very few friends. She was invisible outside of NSIS, and as a senior analyst, she was far more boss than friend to most of the other intel weenies. Within the Shadows, only the admiral, Lutecia and Victor truly cared for her.

Vivio Takamachi was a beloved figure within the Bureau, the daughter of two of the most famous aerial mages to ever serve under the aegis of the TSAB. If it were _she_ who had been kidnapped, the Bureau would be moving heaven, hell and the earth with its bare hands to retrieve her.

But it was _only_ Celica Iris-Lynnfield who had been kidnapped, and _only_ two Shadows and a research assistant cared enough to risk their lives for her.

"This is pissing me off," Victor muttered.

* * *

"Bardiche, seal the door and erect a phase barrier," Fate requested softly. The Intelligent Device, still locked within its suspended form, complied and flashed with golden light.

"Yes, sir."

A Midchildan magic circle blazed into existence underneath Fate's feet, fiercely glowing with gold light. The air became distorted, losing color and washing out slightly before rippling and returning to normal.

"There, now nobody can listen in on our conversation without an extensive amount of effort," Fate said gently. "Please, sit down."

The two Shadows and Vivio complied, taking their seats on the comfortable divan stretched across one side of Fate's office. The colonel herself took a seat opposite them, on the other couch, and cupped her hands around a mug of tea. Taking a long, slow sip, she looked at her young visitors expectantly.

Victor took a deep breath. "Madame Enforcer-Commandant, we need to speak with Jail Scaglietti."

Fate maintained an iron grip on her emotions, but the request struck her like a blow. Her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise.

"That is an extraordinary request, one I cannot grant lightly."

"These are extraordinary times," Victor went on. "Madame Commandant, I—"

"Please, call me Fate. I can't stand my full title."

"Very well, Fate," Victor said, unperturbed, "I'll get right to the point. You already know that Lutecia Alphine is an agent with the Naval Special Intelligence Service, and I'm sure you've already surmised that I am also a Shadow, as well."

"Correct. Please continue."

"As the supreme commander of the Enforcers, you also know that an NSIS agent, Celica Iris-Lynnfield, has been accused of murder and is currently at large."

"I know of this," Fate confirmed. "We have issued a wide-area arrest warrant for Iris-Lynnfield on suspicion of murdering three Security Division officers, as well as charges of espionage and treason."

"Espionage and treason, too?" Victor echoed incredulously. He glanced at Lutecia warily. The woman, who had been letting Victor do most of the talking, could be silent no longer.

"That's complete bullshit," Lutecia spat coldly. "The Administration is hanging Celica out to dry—and NSIS, too, by association. They have no idea what actually happened."

"Please, start from the beginning," asked Fate, an irritated tone creeping in her voice. "Things aren't as they seem, are they?"

"No, they aren't," Victor agreed. "From what we have discovered, NSIS has been compromised to an enormous degree. Even Admiral Harlaown has no idea how widespread the problem is, but here's the deal: Celica stumbled upon something she shouldn't have during the course of her normal duties. Rogue elements within NSIS attempted to murder her in order to keep their dirty little secret hidden, but Celica proved to be stronger.

"She escaped, taking the incriminating data with her. According to Alphine here, Celica has been running around the entire TSAB system and beyond, trying desperately to find enough evidence to clear her name and hang the traitorous bastards by their balls."

"Celica found the evidence necessary," Lutecia said, picking up where Victor left off. "But the rogue faction within NSIS would not stop there. They sent a powerful mage to take her and the evidence into custody."

"Where is Iris-Lynnfield now?" Fate wanted to know.

"That's what we don't know. She was taken prisoner by a high-ranking member of the rogue faction, but they could be holding her anywhere."

"Why do you need to speak with Scaglietti?" Fate asked bluntly.

"We have reason to believe that the rogue faction has made its base of operations on a world containing remnants of the Al'hazred civilization," Victor explained, watching with interest as the word _Al'hazred_ sent a shadow flickering across Fate's expression. "Nobody alive knows more about the Al'hazred and Lost Logia than he."

"You think Scaglietti might have an idea where this rogue faction has gone to ground?"

"That's correct," Victor replied steadily. Fate did not immediately respond; the blond woman instead took several long, slow sips from her rapidly-cooling tea. Both Victor and Lutecia could almost see the gears and cogs turning within Fate's mind as she contemplated the incredible request. They remained silent, waiting for the senior officer to make her decision.

Vivio wasn't one to wait, however, and her relationship with Fate was far more informal than that of Lutecia and Victor.

"Fate-mama, please. Cia's friend is in danger, the longer it takes to find her, the more likely she is to be killed. And if they make her activate the Lost Logia..." Vivio trailed off meaningfully, knowing full well the ominous implication would bring memories flooding back to the veteran Enforcer.

"All right, you've convinced me," Fate said at length. "I'll arrange everything—under one condition."

"And that would be?" Victor inquired.

"I will be sending one of my own people with you," Fate elaborated. "I would greatly like to accompany you myself, but my duties do not allow me the luxury of gallivanting across the multiverse like when I was younger."

"That is acceptable to us," Victor said guardedly, wondering just who Colonel Harlaown had in mind. He glanced at Lutecia, who shrugged, not bothering to comment.

"Thank you, Fate-mama!" Vivio gushed, tackling the older woman with a close hug. Fate smiled and blushed faintly, returning her adoptive daughter's grateful embrace. The senior Enforcer managed to disentangle herself long enough to open a channel to her receptionist.

"Diane, please instruct Captain Lanster to report to my office for immediate reassignment."

* * *

_Harlaown residence  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
09.01.0088_

Chrono swirled the Belkan wine around in a fluted glass idly, contemplating the thick, blood-red liquid for a long moment before taking a small swallow. The drink was bitter and strong, befitting of a warrior culture, he thought.

He sat in his study, across from his mother, Lindy Harlaown, the Bureau's representative to the IAFW Administrative Council. The woman, still in the prime of middle age, looked almost as young as she did when she was the captain of the Bureau cruise patrol warship _Asura._

_There are a few more wrinkles around the mouth, a few lines under her eyes from the stress of her political appointment,_ Chrono thought. But there was little time to waste with pointless things.

"I wish I could just be a grandmother for the next few days, but the Council hearing into NSIS branch of the Naval Forces begins tomorrow. I need to know, Chrono: are you close to some sort of resolution?"

"As far as I know, my agents are getting closer," Chrono said grimly. "I allowed Lutecia Alphine to bring in Agent Victor Stormhawk, and it seems that my top Field Division agent is also bringing in help of her own from other places. I was informed earlier that Vivio Takamachi now accompanies the two of them, and that they spent some time in Enforcer-Commandant Harlaown's office. Shortly thereafter, they were seen at the main office in the company of Captain Teana Lanster."

"A strong force," Lindy agreed, showing no sign of concern for Vivio's safety, Chrono noted. Lindy knew well that Vivio had inherited her genetic ancestor's Belkan Rare Skill, but more than that, Vivio was an adult, able to make her own decisions. Her grandmother wasn't about to invalidate the young woman's choices.

"Fate told me they came to her, asking for permission to interrogate Jail Scaglietti, and Lutecia recently sent me an operational update, complete with all the information they have gathered so far."

Chrono tapped a string of commands into a virtual console and several displays materialized before Lindy, allowing the woman to examine the data contained in Lutecia's report. The woman was silent for a long time as she digested the information.

"I hope they succeed," Lindy said coolly, closing the displays with a dismissive gesture. "This information is damning, but it's entirely circumstantial and speculative. Without overwhelming concrete evidence—and someone to blame, I might add—the Council will do everything in their power to dissolve NSIS."

"Even if they succeed," Chrono muttered darkly, "the Council may still yet decide that the potential for corruption is too great and dissolve the Shadows anyway."

"That is possible, yes, but even if that happens, at least Iris-Lynnfield will not be made a scapegoat."

"Point," Chrono conceded, leaning back in his seat and taking another sip of his wine. "You should go get some rest, Mother. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

"I will, dear," Lindy said with a slight smile. "I don't get many chances to visit with my only son, so I want to make the best of this. With the kids and Amy already asleep, this might be the only chance I get to spend time with you alone for a long while."

Chrono chuckled, raising his glass and taking another sip. "More wine, then?"

"Absolutely," Lindy said, grinning and holding out her empty glass.

* * *

_TSAB Maximum Security Orbital Prison  
Aquilae 3, Beta Aquilae  
09.01.0088_

Lutecia glanced at Victor sidelong as Teana Lanster spoke in rapid-fire speech to the prison warden's obstinate receptionist. The poor woman looked stricken as the red-haired woman towered over her, glowering with impatience.

"My orders come from the Enforcer-Commandant herself," Teana growled, waving her arms impatiently. "I don't care if the warden is on his deathbed; get him in here. I know it's late at night, but this mission is more important than the warden's beauty sleep!"

"Y-yes, ma'am," the frightened secretary said, her face pale. Teana nodded curtly and continued to glare harshly at the woman for a few moments before a door opened and the disheveled prison warden walked in, irritation at being awoken written across his face.

"What do you want, Enforcer? It's the middle of the sleep period; couldn't it have waited until morning?"

Teana frowned slightly and said, "My name is Captain Teana Lanster; I have been ordered by Colonel Testarossa-Harlaown to perform a crucial mission for the Naval Forces." The red-haired woman sent her Device, Cross Mirage, a mental command. A holographic display materialized before the warden, detailing the mission orders and the official magical sigil of Colonel Fate T. Harlaown, Enforcer-Commandant of the TSAB.

The warden's reaction was predictable. His eyes widened and his jaw became slack, staring at the order incredulously. His instructions were brief but to the point.

"Very well, Captain," the warden said after a long moment. "I will take you to Scaglietti, but please, can I get dressed _first_?"

Teana was magnanimous in her victory, and nodded slightly. Lutecia, Vivio and Victor watched in awe as the imposing form of the prison warden—slightly less so in a plain white t-shirt and boxer shorts—strode back into his quarters to clean himself up.

"Scaglietti is in the highest security cell block," Teana explained, "and security measures being what they are, only _one_ person can be allowed to converse with the prisoner at once. They will be sealed inside a special interrogation room and placed under a heavy AMF/jamming field that even interferes with combat cyborg systems."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "I assumed Colonel Harlaown sent you for that exact purpose?"

"I was ordered to accompany you and assist you in your mission," explained the Enforcer smoothly. "Your _entire_ mission. The Enforcer-Commandant has spoken at length with _your_ superior. It's been decided; whatever's going on here is a major threat to the peace, and the incident has now come up on General Yagami's desk."

"I knew that would happen as soon as it leaked," Lutecia said sourly. _This isn't good,_ Lutecia sent to Victor. _If this situation gets any more public, even if the Administration doesn't give NSIS the thumbs-down, all of us are going to be too famous to do our jobs._

_I'm well aware of that,_ Victor replied, _but there's little else we can do other than move forward. Celica will be the one harmed the most by this, you know._

Lutecia didn't bother responding to that.

Teana frowned, sensing that thoughtspeech was bouncing back and forth between the two Shadows, but having no way to decrypt it and listen in, she merely shrugged. "Let's worry about the other stuff later. Who will be volunteering to perform the interrogation?"

"I'll take care of this," Lutecia said grimly. "I know the man better than anyone else here; if anyone can get the data we need out of his head, it'll be me."

"Very well," Teana said seriously. "Agent Stormhawk, Vivio, you two can wait in the lounge. I'll get someone to bring you something to eat; make yourselves comfortable."

"Thanks," Victor muttered, somewhat annoyed that he would not be able to listen in on the interrogation through the one-way glass. According to the security protocol, prisoners of the highest lockdown status could only be interrogated by one person, accompanied by an entire squad of guards.

The warden emerged from his quarters, dressed snappily in his dark blue Naval Forces uniform. He whispered something Lutecia couldn't quite catch to his receptionist, who nodded immediately and started entering commands into her console.

"We will head to the maximum-security cell block," the warden said without preamble. "Only one of you can come."

"I'll be the one going," Lutecia said. The warden nodded and beckoned for her to follow, while Teana led Victor and Vivio toward the prison's administrative lounge, where they would be required to wait until the interrogation was over.

Lutecia followed the warden down the austere corridors of the orbital prison. As a correctional facility, the station had very little in the way of creature comforts outside the administration area and the guard barracks. Security was the overriding concern—Lutecia could spot multiple full-resolution video cameras and multifunction sensor nodes at regular intervals. Breaking out of such a facility would be exceedingly difficult.

The AMF did not extend to the corridors, but Lutecia knew there were likely several emergency field generators hidden away within the station, to be activated in the event of an escape.

The warden stopped beside a thick blast door and waited patiently while the scanner examined his Linker Core signature, identifying him and allowing access. The heavy door slid open soundlessly, leading into a small interrogation room bisected by a heavy sheet of impact-resistant glass.

On the other side of the glass sat a very glum Jail Scaglietti, looking none the worse for wear and almost exactly like he did twelve years ago. Surrounding his chair were four heavily-armed Naval Forces marines, outfitted with heavy Barrier Jackets and carrying linear rifles. The marines kept their Devices holstered, for they would do little good under the effects of such a strong AMF.

Lutecia could feel the effects of the field herself, even though it was centered on the opposite side of the room. Her connection to her own Linker Core felt strange, as if she were viewing it through frosted glass.

"You have one hour and then the prisoner must be returned to his cell," the warden said, taking his seat near the door. "I will not interfere, but I must oversee, per regulations."

Lutecia ignored the man and stood before the glass barrier, staring at the shackled man with an apathetic gaze.

"Doctor," she said neutrally.

"Ah, Lutecia," said Jail Scaglietti, the man smiling slightly as he looked up. "What brings you to my neck of the woods? Come to visit your old friend the Doctor?"

Lutecia didn't answer immediately. His eyes seemed to lack the fire they once held. Lutecia wasn't surprised—twelve years in this hell would dampen the spirits of even the most indomitable folk.

"You know I'm not here for small talk," Lutecia said grimly. "This is the first time I've seen you in twelve years. I've come to tell you something."

"Ah, but you never wrote, you never called. I've missed you, my dear Lutecia! It's so wonderful to see you again," the arcanist went on, his face smiling, but there was a hard edge to that smile that Lutecia didn't like one bit.

"Al'hazred ruins, Doctor," Lutecia said coolly. "Someone else has been following in your footsteps. We're trying to find them and stop them."

"Why would I want to help you do that?" Jail said, laughing loudly. "If there are researchers and arcanists out there continuing my work, I wish them luck! I believe we're done here, my dear Lutecia."

"They aren't continuing your research, Doctor," Lutecia replied, a note of sorrow injected into her voice. "They've taken it to a whole new level, above and beyond anything that you ever imagined!"

Jail frowned, his mind frantically sorting through his vast knowledge. Lutecia smiled inwardly—the good Doctor's incarceration hadn't done much to improve his sanity. He had always been egotistical and prone to lengthy bouts of exposition, delighting in proving his intellectual superiority over everyone else.

Lutecia was counting on that very thing. If she could rile him up enough, get him to believe that the rogue faction would eclipse his brilliance with research based off of his _own_ work, he would sing like a bird.

"They'll be the ones who claim the credit, Doctor," Lutecia went on, pressing her advantage without mercy. "I've seen the experimental data myself, and it _works_. Flawlessly, I might add. All they have to do is perfect the method and even the great accomplishment of Project F will pale in comparison!"

"What have they done?" Jail demanded sharply.

"They've discovered how to artificially increase the capacity of a person's Linker Core, without any physical or genetic modification," Lutecia said simply, relying on the information Celica had saved within Tizona's memory. "Artificial mages and combat cyborgs cannot compare to this, Doctor. There are no side-effects. No expensive and time-consuming maintenance. The experimental bodies are not fragile in any way."

"But—"

"Not only is this possible, Doctor," Lutecia interrupted, "but there is even evidence that they managed to activate dormant Linker Cores with this technology. People completely without magic, suddenly becoming powerful mages!"

"Impossible!" Scaglietti howled. "There is no way that can be done with the current understanding of arcane theory, unless... unless... no, there's no way. They couldn't have found it!"

"Couldn't have found _what_, Doctor?"

"Al'hazred technology. A secret facility for augmenting and creating mages, used to quickly build a powerful military force in times of crisis," Scaglietti muttered, almost to himself. His eyes widened madly and he held his head in his hands.

The Doctor burst out laughing.

"So, someone else _found _it! And they _found a working processor core_! Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! That was to be my finale! My greatest work, if only I could have found or repaired the processor core!

"NO! I will _not _let them have it," Scaglietti wheezed, his breath coming out in gasps. He started to jerk ineffectually against his shackles and chains, his body flopping about in the restrictive chair, desperately trying to escape, as if he meant to stop them himself.

"I'll help you, Doctor," Lutecia said soothingly. "Tell me where it is, and I'll stop them for you. I won't let them take all the glory. I used to help you, long ago, Doctor, do you remember?"

Scaglietti's body suddenly ceased its useless thrashing and he locked a suspicious gaze on Lutecia, his vision blurring from the crazed exertions.

"I remember... you will do this favor for me, sweet Lutecia?"

"I promise I'll stop them," Lutecia said firmly, and she meant it. She had always had mixed feelings for the Doctor, even when she worked for him... when she traveled with Zest and Agito. The other two had unabashedly hated Scaglietti, but Lutecia didn't hold such strong negative emotions for the man.

Even now, after so many years, after all that had happened, Lutecia could not truly bring herself to blame the man as much as others did. He had never been completely sane and the TSAB High Council took advantage of him. They had paid for their audacity with their lives, but Lutecia, and many others within NSIS, knew that the true criminals had been given the easy way out.

Still, Lutecia felt slightly sad as the Doctor began to talk rapidly, rambling, reciting dimensional coordinates and the names of worlds. Fortunately for Lutecia, Asclepius was ready, and began to record the data as Scaglietti spoke.

Lutecia hoped it would be enough. Time was running short.

* * *

_Unknown location  
09.01.0088_

Celica glanced at the screens of her workstation and then back at the technicians. They had taken a break—unlike her, they could take short breaks whenever they wished, and Celica's docile behavior had lulled them and the guards into a state of complacency.

Quickly, trying not to attract any attention, she deleted the logs from the earlier analysis she ran, making sure that the translated core logic data was incomplete. She would have preferred to erase it completely, but a partial erasure would make it exceedingly difficult for the rogue faction to use while also maintaining the illusion that she was complying with their wishes.

The necessary information was already locked within her mind—she had spent the last several hours committing it to memory. She repeatedly thanked the mnemonic exercises that were a major part of NSIS training, allowing her to memorize such complex formulae.

It would be time for the guard to return her to her quarters. Celica watched out of the corner of her eye as the male guard stood, holding his linear rifle at the ready, while the female guard slung her weapon across her shoulders and walked over to Celica's workstation.

"Miss, it's time to return you to your quarters."

"All right," Celica said graciously, shutting the computers down. She stood up and allowed herself to be escorted out of the computer center, the male guard's rifle aimed directly at her spine, the female guard clasping her upper arm none too tightly.

The walk was uneventful and free of conversation as usual. The female guard opened the door leading to the converted room, ushering Celica inside, who obeyed without resistance. Both guards backed away slowly, keeping their weapons trained on her, and then sealed the door.

Celica sat down on the edge of the military cot and sighed softly. The room's illumination would wink out within the next ten minutes, giving her just enough time to get undressed and climb into bed, but she had no intention of doing so. She had no idea if there were listening devices or recording devices within the room, but it had been a rush job—Celica doubted that the rogue faction would have had time to plant surveillance equipment.

_Even if they did, it wouldn't matter at all. As soon as I use any magic, they're going to know something's up._

Celica closed her eyes and stilled her thoughts, focusing her mental energies inward. This would be a long, slow process, but she had a much better understanding of the underlying logic than most people. It took training, or the assistance of a Device, to understand core logic. Most mages spent months in heavy training attempting to set the core logic of their chosen style within their minds, securely linking their consciousness with their Linker Core.

Celica was different. She didn't just use magic, but she often _wrote_ it. She had never attempted to do so before now, but it would not be impossible for her to switch from one core logic to another. When the only choices had been Belkan or Midchildan, Celica opted to remain with the style more suited for her job.

_I wouldn't make a very good knight, anyway,_ Celica thought wryly. She bit her own lip, frowning at her inability to keep her thoughts quiet. Without absolute concentration, she wouldn't be able to do this without Tizona's help.

The hum of the climate control systems faded away as Celica took a deep breath, slowly exhaling, then inhaling with a regular, gentle rhythm. She focused on her breathing, pushing everything else out of her mind, then when the slate was clean, she began to reorganize her link.

As if her thoughts were physical objects, Celica slowly disassembled her existing connection to her Linker Core, while simultaneously rebuilding it with a different pattern and shape. It was a dangerous process—if her concentration was disrupted, she could possibly corrupt her own core logic, leaving her without _any_ magic until the damage could be repaired.

Minutes passed, or perhaps hours—Celica had no way of knowing, so focused was she on her task. So it was with no small amount of relief that she opened her gray eyes and blinked in the darkness as she mentally _felt_ the last piece click into place.

Celica smiled smugly. The AMF permeating her room had not been compromised, yet she could feel her Linker Core blazing as strongly as it ever had, if not more so. The Al'hazred core logic felt vastly more efficient than the Midchildan link, but Celica wasn't about to get too confident just yet.

She had just fundamentally altered the way her own magic worked. It might perform unpredictably, and without Tizona to amplify her output, it might not be powerful enough for her to escape with.

_I can't just wait around for a rescue, though,_ Celica told herself sternly. She stood up from the cot, stretching her stiff muscles—judging from the creaks in her joints, she must've been sitting for at least three hours.

Celica closed her eyes and called forth magical energy. A blazing blue-white hexagonal magic circle sprang into being beneath her feet, bordered and chased with sinuous, curving runes.

"Nova Lancer," Celica called out, holding an outstretched finger in the direction of the door leading from her makeshift cell. A half-dozen motes of blue-white light materialized all around her, suddenly streaking off in the direction Celica had indicated.

One after another, the small magical projectiles slammed into the door and exploded, tearing the metal barrier from its moorings. The smoking, twisted remains of the door slammed into the opposite side of the corridor, clattering loudly to the ground.

The red-haired mage opened her eyes and grinned broadly in the dim light as she gingerly stepped through the hole she had just blasted.

_Yeah, this will do just fine._

* * *

author's note:

Okay, well, I lied. I was supposed to answer _all_ of the questions raised in Chapter 6, but this was just getting too big, so again, more will be forthcoming in Chapter 8.

The group just keeps getting larger, doesn't it? Three has become four with the addition of Teana, and I suspect that we'll see at least one more person before our heroes make their attack on the Factory to rescue Celica.

Stay tuned for more. Same Bat time, same Bat channel. :)


	8. Chapter 8

_Administrative Council Chamber  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
09.02.0088_

Administrator Lindy Harlaown frowned slightly as she surveyed the vast chamber before her. The administrators from various worlds under the aegis of the Interdimensional Administration of Free Worlds gathered. Lindy could already tell that today would be a long and exhausting day.

An emergency session of the Council had been called. The herald would no doubt read a long list of issues to be brought before the representatives, but Lindy knew the true purpose. The IAFW was worried—secret "black ops" organizations always worried them, but now that Celica's act of murder and subsequent desertion had leaked, the Council felt both fear and opportunity.

Fear that public opinion would turn against the individual governors, fear that the citizens of the IAFW would blame the politicians for the corruption of an agency that was only supposed to be gathering intelligence, _not_ performing assassination and sabotage missions.

Lindy would no doubt bear the brunt of the accusations. She was the Time-Space Administration Bureau's representative to the Council—the Bureau's status as a quasi-independent agency granted them the same status among the Council as a member-world, even though Midchilda had its own representative.

However, unlike Midchilda, Lindy's position was not one of real power. She was merely a liaison between the leadership of the Bureau and the Council. Those who represented actual member-worlds were often the governors of those worlds, as well.

_I will take most of the damage, but won't be able to fight back effectively,_ she thought morosely. The Bureau's leadership became very tight-lipped upon discovering the leak for themselves. Lindy had even heard rumors that the Director of NSIS, Admiral Chrono Harlaown, would be called to a hearing to determine the possibility of court-martial.

"Everything's a mess," murmured Lindy aloud.

"I agree completely, Madame Administrator," a familiar, strangely-accented female voice said from behind her. Lindy turned to see a short young woman dressed in the gold-embellished brown uniform and skirt of a Ground Forces flag officer.

"General Yagami," Lindy greeted neutrally, smiling for the first time since she arrived at the chamber. Hayate Yagami, the youngest person to ever hold the post of City Defense Command and perhaps Lindy's staunchest ally within Midchilda's army.

"Have you heard anything new from the mission squad?" Hayate asked in a low tone, careful not to speak too loudly as the council chamber slowly began to fill, representatives from various different worlds taking their seats.

"Chrono and Fate have kept me in the loop, but the last report from both Lutecia and Teana came in yesterday. They obtained the necessary information from Scaglietti. Captain Lanster informed the Enforcer-Commandant that she was drawing up the tactical assessment. She is expected to have a clear picture before the end of the day."

"Good," the brown-haired mage said, tugging slightly at her collar. The chamber, filled to the brim now with various beings, some human, others not, had grown uncomfortably warm. The climate-control systems, as if responding to Hayate's discomfort, immediately kicked in, sending waves of soothing cool air emanating throughout the room.

"What do you plan to do, General?"

"At this point, 'wait and see' is about all I can do," Hayate said grimly. "I will, of course, offer whatever assistance I can, but it will have to be done quietly. When Teana finishes the tactical assessment, instruct Chrono to forward it to Captain Signum."

"You plan on having her go with them?"

"I would prefer to send more," Hayate began, "but this is all I can spare at the moment. Vita, Shamal and Zafira are on a long-term mission for City Defense. Fate is no longer under my command and has her own agency to run. Nanoha... well... Nanoha shouldn't be pushing herself so much, you know."

Lindy nodded in agreement. The fiery young combat instructor placed too much importance on others at the expense of herself. The JS Incident and other major incidents in the intervening years had been hard on Captain Takamachi.

Hayate and several other ranking members of the Ground Forces ordered her in no uncertain terms that she was _not _to leave Midchilda on assignment. Nanoha's knowledge as an instructor was too valuable to the Bureau to risk losing her.

_At least that's the official reason_, Hayate thought warmly. Unofficially, her friends and superiors were worried that she'd go off and get herself killed, and thus she had been given an ultimatum. She had the choice to either take it easy and focus on training new mages, or receive a medical discharge.

"Thank you, General," Lindy said, her voice markedly more upbeat than it had been minutes before. "I feel more confident that this will work. I will do as much as I can on my end to keep the Council from coming down on NSIS. Not all of us may agree on their methods, but I believe the two of us can appreciate the vital function they perform for the Bureau."

"Chrono and I argue about it constantly," Hayate agreed, "but yes, the Bureau would be far less effective without NSIS. What do you intend to do to deflect the Council's attention?"

"Explosive information that I received from Lutecia Alphine," Lindy replied with a wicked grin, "after she returned from Non-Administrated World #97."

It didn't take long for Hayate to make the connection.

"You're going to recommend the world for membership status?" Hayate gasped, her blue eyes wide. It _was_ her homeworld, after all, and she was deeply concerned. Hayate would have preferred if Earth was given more time to end its destructive wars and conflicts before introducing it to the larger universe that existed beyond it, but she knew that Lindy wouldn't do something like this without a strong reason.

"The experimentation on recovered Lost Logia and Bureau Device technology convinced me," Lindy said with conviction. "Non-Administrated World #97 is too dangerous to leave alone at this point. Without the proper oversight, they might repeat the history of ancient Belka."

_That_ was a sobering thought, Hayate knew. She nodded briskly and saluted, as if Lindy were still an Admiral in the Naval Forces.

"Thank you, Administrator Harlaown," Hayate said graciously. "I will anticipate news of the team's success."

"We all do," Lindy murmured soberly.

* * *

_Unit Epsilon Headquarters  
Washington, D.C.  
Non-Administrated World #97  
09.02.0088_

Dr. Lily Vance smoothed her suit jacket and squared her shoulders self-consciously. She always felt a strong degree of apprehension when speaking directly to General Reed.

Vance wished the military man wasn't involved in the project. This research was far beyond anything that had ever been attempted on Earth—research into alien technology that defied all current understanding of physical reality. The military, and by extension, General Reed, had such a narrow view of this technology.

_All he can see are weapons,_ Vance thought angrily. _My research is so much more than that! So much greater than mere killing machines—as if we do not have enough of those already._

But no other organization could have given Dr. Vance the funding and security she needed to appropriately research what had been found. Without joining Unit Epsilon as its senior researcher, Dr. Vance would never have achieved anything other than being the crackpot author of a few books considered "junk science" by the majority of her peers.

_It's not a good feeling, being thought of as crazy when you know you're right,_ she mused to herself. The video connection still hadn't established; Vance wondered what was taking General Reed so long. All of their previous meetings at the headquarters had been in person, but he had been called away to advise the President on the unrest in the Middle East.

_If I'm successful, the Middle East and its problems will no longer even be a consideration,_ she rambled on mentally. _If we can puzzle out a method of reliably harnessing this strange energy source, near-limitless clean power generation will no longer be the stuff of dreams!_

Dr. Vance was shaken from her grandiose reverie by the sound of an incoming video conference call. She reached out and hit a button, accepting the call. The dour face of General Augustus Reed materialized on the liquid-crystal display.

She smiled politely for the man, anticipating yet another demand for a progress report on the status of the powered armor design and the search for potential pilots.

She would be bitterly disappointed.

"Dr. Vance, we have a serious problem," Reed said without preamble. "The Montana base has already been shut down. Our California and Utah sites have been ordered to destroy all data and engage the self-destruct. I am ordering you to purge all data and destroy any physical media immediately."

Lily Vance blinked, unsure if she had heard correctly. But the general's dour expression did not change—she was not mired in a horrible, horrible nightmare. What he had said was real.

"But _why_?" Vance demanded upon finding her voice again, staring hard at the camera atop the small flat-panel display. "Have we been discovered by federal investigators? Are we about to be raided?"

"Worse," Reed said darkly. "The Time-Space Administration Bureau is moving. The Utah site detected a massive spike in increased sensor activity above Earth. A Bureau cruise patrol warship has been spotted in lunar orbit. My advisers and I all agree on what this means—the TSAB has decided to formally involve itself in our affairs."

Dr. Vance felt her jaw drop in sheer astonishment. It had to have been the assault on the Montana site, she knew. The mages who attacked the site _must _have been connected to the TSAB, and what they saw must have greatly troubled their leadership.

This was bad. The worst. If the TSAB formally involved themselves in Earth's affairs, it was inevitable that the United States government would discover Unit Epsilon's illicit activities. The current President was not the sort of man to take such a deception lightly, even with the possibility of extraterrestrial contact on the agenda.

It would not take the various governments of Earth long to learn that it had been Unit Epsilon's activities that brought the TSAB to Earth. Dr. Vance didn't need a lot of brain power to know just what sort of chaos could result.

"There's nothing we can do now except destroy as much of the evidence as we can," Reed went on. "Contact me immediately after the facility has been deactivated. I will issue further instructions. We cannot afford to make a mistake now."

"Understood, General," Dr. Vance said solemnly. "I will begin immediately."

"Good," the general said softly. "Dismissed."

Vance turned away from the communications panel and strode rapidly to the door, not bothering to close it behind her. She rapidly walked away from her small office and back toward the small room housing the large database servers that contained all of the project's research data.

A nondescript man dressed in a guard's uniform slipped into the office and waited a few short moments before the black screen of the communications console was once again replaced with General Reed's face.

"When the good doctor's task is finished, kill her," Reed said softly. "She is a liability. I will not gamble my life and career on her ability to keep her mouth shut."

The assassin nodded wordlessly and turned off the communications console. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a compact automatic pistol complete with a can-type suppressor screwed onto the end of the barrel. He examined the weapon with a critical eye, ensuring that all its mechanisms were working flawlessly.

Then he sat down to wait for Dr. Vance's return.

* * *

_Unknown location  
09.02.0088_

Celica stepped over the smoking body of a fallen guard, gripping the dead man's linear rifle tightly in both hands. Those hands, much more accustomed to the feel of a virtual keyboard or the haft of a Device, shook just slightly under the weight of the heavy rifle—and her nervousness.

The red-haired mage was at a severe disadvantage. This situation was unlike anything she ever faced. Without Tizona, most of her more complex magic was inaccessible: all of her long-range bombardment spells, most of her defensive spells and her most devastating trump card, Overclock. Obviously, bereft of Tizona's combat form, she was left completely without her melee techniques.

All she really had was a few mid-range shooting spells and most of her simpler meta-magic and abjurations.

It wasn't all terrible, however. Celica was impressed by the elegance of the Al'hazred magic of the Precursor civilization was actually somewhat _less_ powerful than newer types, especially compared to ancient and modern Belkan. However, it was nearly an order of magnitude more efficient.

She could still only channel so much power without risking an overload, but the drain on her Linker Core was far less. It was as if Celica had instantly increased the capacity of her Linker Core by a factor of eight.

_If Alphine ever learned how to do this,_ Celica thought idly, attempting to steady her shaky hands, _she'd be nigh-unstoppable._

The mage shook away her idle thoughts, ignoring her shaking hands and bringing the linear rifle up to her shoulder where she could quickly snap up and fire if she needed to. She was thankful the weapon's ergonomics were better than Tizona's when he shifted to Cannon Form—_possible design changes can be made there,_ Celica mused to herself.

Already she was suspicious. Her escape and the subsequent death of a guard should have raised the place to full alert, but it appeared to Celica as if the rogue faction had not had enough time to fully outfit the Al'hazred facility with security measures. They had blanketed the place with an AMF, armed their own troops with weapons not dependent upon magic systems and placed surveillance devices at key locations, but more long-term security measures were not in place.

_They can't seal off parts of the facility—most of the doors don't even work. Even if they manage to get the guards organized, the cramped corridors aren't made for combat._

Escape was uncertain. Celica wasn't even sure where she was, and if the rogue faction hadn't set up a portable transfer relay, she'd have no way to get back home. Her primary concern was destroying the Precursor Artifact. Without the processing unit activated and installed, the traitorous Shadows would not be able to utilize the Factory's dangerous technology.

"As long as I can destroy it," Celica murmured quietly, "it doesn't matter whether I live or die."

The woman hefted her purloined rifle and slowly advanced down the winding, confusing corridors. Without the benefit of the augmented reality displays used by the guards, Celica had only vague memory to guide her to the computer center. The uniform matte gray metal of the corridors made her head swim.

Fortunately, the guards did not set Celica up terribly far from her destination. It was not long until Celica reached the computer center. The corridor leading to the facility's data hub was off the beaten track just slightly—as far as Celica could tell, it was one of the deepest parts of the facility. The change in air pressure was noticeable.

_The entire facility is underground,_ Celica thought suddenly. She hadn't noticed it before, but the observation was such a simple one that the mage was stunned she didn't make the connection earlier. There were no windows at all; only the occasional tiny ventilation shaft broke the endless smooth gray metal. But it was the pressure change that told the true story.

Celica held her nose and attempted to clear the pressure imbalance from her ears, shaking her head slightly before focusing on the task at hand. She hoped her enemies hadn't had time to magically seal the door leading to the computer center. Without Tizona's help, she would have no chance of breaking a strong ward.

"It's around here somewhere," Celica muttered aloud, pressing her hand around where she remembered seeing the guard do the same. Without the augmented reality HUD, Celica couldn't tell exactly where the hidden touch panel was located. She knew it wasn't a biometric scanner; the guards never had to take their gloves off to utilize it.

There was no tactile indicator, no telltale bump or separation in the material. The Al'hazred construction materials were unusual indeed—Celica imagined that this entire place had been built with the intent of frustrating any rivals who attempted to break in and steal technology.

A moment later, Celica felt a _click_ as the touch panel engaged, activating a relay that powered the magnetic track, allowing the door to slide open soundlessly. She smiled slightly to herself and walked inside, the linear rifle held at the ready.

There was no one inside. Celica let out a deep breath she didn't realize she was holding and let the barrel of her rifle droop slightly as she quickly examined the small room.

The computer center looked almost exactly how she had left it—her portable workstations arrayed in a semicircle, connected with various cables and experimental apparatuses to the Precursor Artifact. The Lost Logia itself sat upon a small observation dais.

Slinging the rifle across her back, Celica went to work. Quickly she disconnected the interconnects between the Al'hazred computer and the workstations. The observation dais was outfitted with a number of sensors—those had to be disabled, as well. Celica opened the small access panel on the side of the dais and gingerly removed two small crystalline fuses.

The dormant holographic displays lining the side of the apparatus dimmed and winked out.

"Just one thing left to do," Celica murmured aloud, stepping back as far as she could, her back almost against the far wall, as she unslung the heavy linear rifle and pointed the weapon's bore directly at the Precursor Artifact. Deactivated as it was, Celica didn't believe the thing could withstand sustained fire.

As soon as she started shooting, though, it wouldn't be long before the traitorous Shadows found her. She imagined that Abraham Stele was not at the Factory, else she likely would have run into him already.

_I don't get it, though,_ Celica thought suspiciously. _I would have expected a lot more resistance. It's almost as if they don't care if I escape or not._

That was a sobering thought. Perhaps they knew something she didn't—Celica felt her heart sink as she realized that there likely _wasn't_ a transfer port here—at least not one that she could use without Tizona's help. It was the only thing that made sense—they knew she couldn't make a long-range dimensional transfer without the assistance of a relay.

There wasn't much else she could do about it at this point, however. Celica shrugged her shoulders, resolutely swallowed her growing despair and shouldered the linear rifle. Her finger squeezed the weapon's trigger.

With a deafening staccato roar, the linear rifle came to vicious life, sending round after round into the Precursor Artifact's main body. Celica released the trigger less than three seconds later as a great cloud of flame engulfed the pyramidal Lost Logia.

The red-haired mage peered through gray eyes as the cloud dissipated, revealing the Precursor Artifact, completely undamaged, as if she had never fired a single shot. The shots had simply destroyed themselves on the artifact's defensive shielding, Celica surmised.

"Tough defenses, even while dormant," Celica muttered with growing unease. The linear rifle was loaded with a two-hundred-round magazine—her three-second volley had sapped nearly half her ammunition store.

Shrugging, Celica fired again, holding the trigger down until the weapon let out an electronic sizzle and beep, signifying an empty magazine. She didn't have another, so Celica simply tossed the rifle aside and summoned magical energy.

A blazing blue-white hexagonal magical circle formed beneath her feet as she sent a stream of glowing force missiles streaking unerringly at the Precursor Artifact. Celica watched in dismay as the Lost Logia's defensive shield simply soaked up the incoming attack—unlike the linear rifle shells, which were completely destroyed upon impact, the magical bullets were simply absorbed.

Still the Precursor Artifact remained utterly undamaged.

"Nova Lancer!" Celica cried, trying vainly not to succumb to panic. She _had_ to destroy it. The Factory was too dangerous for any one group to control—Celica had no choice but to ensure it could _never_ be reactivated. She poured forth even more magical energy, overreaching her limits. Fiercely-burning blue-white globes of energy the size of grapefruits shot toward the artifact with dizzying speed—

—and were again absorbed by the Precursor Artifact's defensive shielding. Celica watched with growing unease as the sinuous Al'hazred runes carved into the ancient device began to glow dimly with the same blue-white light.

"It's absorbing my spells," she gasped, horrified. Her blood, already the consistency and temperature of ice water, froze utterly as she heard the mocking sound of clapping from behind her.

"And using that energy to reactivate its own systems," a smug, satisfied male voice said from behind. "I must thank you, Celica Iris-Lynnfield! We couldn't have done it without you."

* * *

_Enforcer-Commandant's Office – Conference Room  
Time-Space Administration Bureau Main Office  
09.02.0088_

"This is everything he gave us," Teana Lanster said brusquely.

A quartet of holographic displays materialized above the conference table, displaying maps, locational data and dimensional coordinates. There was no question as to where the Factory was located now.

Fate Testarossa-Harlaown examined the information with a critical eye. Teana, Lutecia, Vivio and Victor had already looked over the information recorded in Asclepius's memory, but none of them had any real information on the world Scaglietti had named.

"Tau-38," Fate said after a long moment. "The system's devoid of anything interesting—a scattering of barely-spherical planetoids orbiting a red dwarf star. Only one planet approximating Midchilda's size, culture level of zero, devoid of any valuable resource _and_ tidally locked to its star."

"From our long-range sensor data collected within the past few years, it appears as if the Factory is on that planet," Teana continued where her superior left off.

"But this is far beyond the reach of the Al'hazred Empire," Lutecia objected. "Why is the facility there?"

"It's a good hiding place?" Victor guessed. "It's certainly off the beaten path."

"But it doesn't seem to be a very logical place to put a facility important to the Al'hazred civilization," argued Lutecia. "It's extremely distant from the system thought to be the Precursors' homeworld."

"I think I know," Vivio spoke up for the first time. "When the Al'hazred homeworld was destroyed in the dimensional dislocation that collapsed their empire, many of their outlying outposts were flung through dimensional space by the spatial distortions. It's possible that this facility ended up on the Tau-38 planet after being carried by the distortion wave."

"That's right," Lutecia murmured. "I remember reading something about that in the Library—the Al'hazred Empire's reach did not extend beyond the edge of this quadrant, but Saint Church arcanists have discovered Lost Logia of the Precursors on worlds well outside their known borders."

"If that's true, the Factory was either an orbital station or a space-faring vessel itself," Teana said

"What are we waiting for, then?" Victor demanded impatiently. "The longer we dawdle, the more likely that—"

"We're all well aware of what will happen, Storm," Lutecia said soberly, silencing the man before he could finish. "She's _my_ friend, too. I know exactly how you feel."

"Celica Iris-Lynnfield is not the only consideration," Teana reminded them. "The Factory is exceedingly dangerous. It must be destroyed, and the criminals responsible for its rediscovery must be taken into custody."

The room fell silent. The weight of the mission hadn't quite settled in just yet until Teana made her ominous pronouncement. Victor, Lutecia and even Vivio knew exactly what was at stake here—the continued independence of the Bureau, separate from the Administration government.

"There's another problem, too," Fate said softly, pointing to a flashing warning symbol on the system map.

"There's a good chance the entire facility is blanketed in a wide-frequency AMF. A long-range dimensional transfer directly to the Factory would be impossible. You'll have to cross the planetoid on foot."

"Is the planet habitable?"

"Barely," Teana replied acidly. "The planet—Non-Administrated World #771—is very close to its star, but as the red dwarf has lost most of its original energy output this late in life, the planet _does _support some type of carbon-based life, mostly these black-leafed plants. The atmospheric readings confirm that the air is suitable for human life, but the conditions aren't exactly pleasant."

"Where is the Factory located?" Victor wondered.

"We don't know for sure," Teana replied, pointing to the system map and entering a few commands into the console. The map changed, zooming in on NA771, centering a large area on the night side of the planet.

"This is where we _think_ it is," she said coolly. "This area is somewhere near the solar pole, the point directly opposite from the system's star. It is perpetually engulfed by severe torrential downpours—as you might have guessed, the night side is mostly ocean. There aren't too many places the Factory might have ended up without sinking into the sea."

"The long-range sensors aren't close enough to get good readings," Fate explained, calling up another set of holographic displays. "Once the strike team reaches the insertion point, it shouldn't be too difficult for any mage to detect the source of the AMF jamming."

Teana turned to the two Shadows and Vivio, clearing her throat as she entered a string of commands into her console. A holographic display materialized before Lutecia, Vivio and Victor, formally detailing the mission.

"The mission objectives are as follows: a strike team comprised of five operatives will utilize the Enforcer transfer port at A7. Departure will be at 0030. The strike team will locate the Factory and infiltrate the facility. Priority objective is to destroy or disable the facility and secure any active Lost Logia. Secondary objective is the recovery of NSIS Agent Celica Iris-Lynnfield, listed as missing and presumed to be held prisoner at the Factory.

"The facility is manned by an unknown number of hostiles, their strengths and abilities are unknown. Intelligence on the Factory is limited at best. The strike team is to neutralize any and all resistance within the facility. Do you all understand the mission?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Victor, Lutecia and Vivio all said at once, standing straight and tall, saluting smartly—Fate was more than a little amused to see her adoptive daughter saluting Captain Lanster... only she was using the wrong hand.

Lutecia looked embarrassed. Teana smiled slightly, and Victor looked as if he could barely contain an explosive laugh. The commander of the Enforcers stifled a giggle and schooled her expression back into a serious mien. Teana cleared her throat self-consciously and continued.

"Good. The mission will officially start at midnight. Go get some rest, you three, and meet me at the staging area A7. We'll use that transfer port."

"Wait," Lutecia said as the three of them headed for the door. "You said _five_ operatives."

"Yes, so what?"

"There are only four of us," Lutecia pointed out. "Who is the fifth?"

* * *

_The Factory  
Tau-38c, Tau-38  
(Non-Administrated World #771)  
09.02.0088_

"Bravo, my dear Celica. Your performance thus far has vastly exceeded our expectations—I never could have imagined a mage could alter the core logic of her own Linker Core in less than two days."

Celica whirled around to see Thomas Hayes, dressed in the blue Naval Forces uniform, oddly stripped of all rank insignia and decoration. The man held a wicked-looking pistol gripped in his right hand, aiming the weapon directly at Celica's heart.

Behind him stood a gaggle of white-coated technicians, Device experts and two guards armed with linear rifles. Celica felt her heart sink almost to her feet. It seemed too unreal, but she knew her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.

She'd been had.

"You... you knew this would happen?"

"Not just _knew_," Hayes explained matter-of-factly, "_Planned_. Thus far, everything that has happened has occurred exactly as we had anticipated."

"Impossible," Celica objected, staring hard at the traitorous Shadow, wary of the nasty-looking weapon still trained upon her. "The last several days have been far too chaotic—you couldn't have known what I would have found, or—"

"Come now, Celica, don't act so surprised," Hayes cut in smoothly. "Manipulating people is our _job_, after all. I already knew everything about you—it was a simple matter to predict how you would react to certain situations—"

"You motherfucker," Celica gasped, summoning up magical energy. The blazing blue-white hexagonal circle materialized beneath her feet once again. Motes of concussive magical force streaked through the air, unerringly aimed at the unarmored Hayes.

"Tsk, tsk. That won't work at all," Hayes clucked, grinning broadly as the magical projectiles seemed to warp and distort, turning suddenly in mid-flight and arrowing directly for the Precursor Artifact. The ancient Lost Logia's rune-covered surface began to glow with intense blue-white light.

Celica glared pure murder at the smugly-grinning Hayes. She was virtually helpless. Without Tizona, she could not make use of her higher magical abilities. Altering her core logic may have changed the method in which she cast spells, but it didn't change the fact that she wasn't a warrior and depended heavily upon her Device for combat potency.

"Sir, that's all we need. The Al'hazred processing core is active," the head technician said in a low voice.

"You're certain?"

"Yes, sir," the technician went on. "The artificial Linker Core has entered a green state and the AI processor is in the process of rebuilding its core logic. It's a blank slate—this was a spare, after all, but that just makes it easier for us."

Hayes smiled and nodded to the man, who began issuing commands to his subordinates. A pair of technicians immediately hefted the large pyramidal Lost Logia onto a pushcart, ostensibly to install it and reactivate the Factory's technology. Celica glared daggers at them as they left the room, but there wasn't a lot she could do. The compact linear accelerator loomed before her, leaving Celica staring directly down the weapon's bore.

"Unfortunately, you have now outlived your usefulness," Hayes said smugly. "I briefly considered giving you to Abraham Stele, but I think it'd be a much more prudent course of action to go ahead and put an end to you now."

Celica saw one chance and one chance alone. The good Admiral Hayes seemed to be enjoying himself; it would give her an opening. Logically, Celica knew that it was too little, too late—she could not destroy the Precursor Artifact, and it was extremely unlikely that she could hold out until rescue arrived.

But Celica Iris-Lynnfield was not one to sit by and wait patiently for death. She clung to her life with a stubborn tenacity that shocked even her, even after she failed and had allowed—

_No. I'm not going to blame myself for their crimes._

"Nova Lancer!"

Celica ducked at the same moment as three glowing blue-white magical projectiles materialized and shot at three separate targets. Predictably, Hayes fired immediately, hitting nothing but air. He would readjust soon—Celica didn't stop moving, immediately shifting into a roll, _toward_ Hayes—

A split-second later, Celica's magical bullets exploded, each one scoring a direct hit, sending shockwaves throughout the room, knocking the technicians from their feet. Hayes, unarmored and without any sort of magical defenses, was knocked unconscious, the pistol sliding from his grasp. Celica retrieved it smoothly, sliding back up on her feet.

The two guards armed with linear rifles were dazed, but not unconscious. Celica dashed behind a partition wall as their rifles belched hypervelocity rounds. The dull silvery-gray walls of the facility weren't armored—the rounds punched through effortlessly.

"Not going to have much cover here," Celica breathed heavily. She ducked around the corner and returned fire with the pistol she took from Hayes' unconscious body, scoring no hits but sending the two guards scrambling for cover.

The small weapon was essentially a cut-down linear rifle without full-auto capability. It would do for now, Celica thought. She ran across the room, firing as she went. The guards weren't well-trained, she mused as they fired back. But then again, neither was she—at least, not with a gun.

Celica began firing her purloined pistol wildly, aiming only in the general direction of the guards. She wasn't trying to hit them, but instead prevent them from firing at her while she cast a spell.

It worked. The telltale Al'hazred magic circle blazed into existence under her feet as she sent a hail of magical bullets at her attackers. The stolen pistol hissed electronically on an empty magazine and she threw it out into the hallway, instead focusing her will on conjuring a second barrage.

The technicians, wanting no part of the vicious battle erupting before them, had run from the computer center. Celica paid them no mind—it was possible that they would call reinforcements, but she'd worry about that when the time came. For now, she had more immediate problems.

One of the guards lay sprawled across the metallic floor of the computer center, his head and neck bent at an odd angle. Clearly dead, Celica decided, figuring he had landed at an oblique angle when he fell unconscious.

The other guard was out cold, but still breathing. Celica walked up to the man and ripped the linear rifle out of his hands. She spent a few moments searching him, finding a security key, two extra 250-round magazines for the linear rifle and the man's dormant Storage Device. She left the Device behind; it was keyed to the man's Linker Core and would be useless.

There was one more thing to check, she knew—if she'd been lucky, the hammer blows of her spell hadn't damaged the man's augmented-reality visor.

"Bingo," Celica muttered aloud, removing the man's helmet. The visor appeared to be in perfect condition. She placed the helmet upon her own head and smiled as lines of text and indicative icons materialized on various surfaces around her.

Now armed with the knowledge of the Factory's layout, Celica knew her chances of survival had just multiplied tenfold. She didn't dare hope that she'd make it out of this alive, however—if there was a transfer port, it was most likely heavily encrypted, probably keyed to Linker Core signature.

"Nowhere to go but forward," Celica said aloud, her voice grim. She started to run down the corridor, away from the computer center, following the map projected in front of her field of vision by the HUD visor. She was more than a little surprised—according to the map, the area of the facility was much larger than she imagined. Judging by the shape and the general arrangement of the different—

_This was once a dimensional starship,_ Celica realized as she studied the map's overview. It had been severely damaged, most likely when it had crash-landed on whatever planet it was currently on. Her opinion of the rogue faction's capabilities immediately adjusted upward.

_It must've been an incredible job to restore this ship's systems to functionality,_ she thought admiringly. A plan began to form in her mind, raising her spirits considerably. It would no longer be a deadly game of survival and evasion, but one of sabotage.

Rounding a corner, Celica headed toward the derelict spacecraft's central power reactor. With the HUD visor, she knew exactly where to go, the shortest possible route. If she could damage the reactor badly enough, she might be able to buy enough time to escape—as long as Abraham Stele didn't show up.

Celica rather hoped he wouldn't.

* * *

_Unit Epsilon Headquarters  
Washington, D.C.  
Non-Administrated World #97  
09.02.0088_

Lily Vance sighed heavily as she surveyed the room before her. The data center of the small office where Unit Epsilon's operations had once been commanded was now a barren, empty room. The file servers had been removed, their data erased, the computers themselves physically destroyed. All removable media had been erased as well.

Technicians were in the process of gathering hardcopy data and depositing it in the break room, where one of the guards would soak it in gasoline and set the entire place ablaze.

"That's everything," she muttered, heading down the short hallway back to her office. The guard she had seen before still sat in one of her office chairs. She didn't recognize the man—and suddenly she understood why as he smiled cruelly and raised a silenced pistol.

"General Reed sends his regards," the man said wickedly, his finger caressing the trigger. Lily screamed in horror as the man savored the moment, drinking in her fear, committing the horrified, betrayed look in her eyes to memory before he pulled the trigger.

But he never got that far.

A small, double-edged throwing knife flashed through the air, imbedding itself deeply into his abdomen. The assassin grunted, stumbling slightly but not losing his footing. The razor-sharp blade sliced through layers of bullet-proof armor to cut deeply into his flesh.

It wasn't a serious wound, however, but it signified an immediate threat; the assassin's eyes flicked around the room, but couldn't see anything other than the cowering Dr. Vance.

"IS: Rumble Detonator."

The sound of fingers snapping echoed through the empty room.

The assassin's eyes widened in horror as the throwing knife began to glow with a strange yellow-gold pattern. The metal of the weapon blazed with incandescent fire, giving the killer only a moment of terror before his body was blasted apart in the ensuing explosion.

Lily Vance screamed a second time, horrified at the sight of the dead assassin, his body mangled by the small but powerful detonation. She nearly fainted when a gentle but strong hand clasped her wrist.

The researcher looked up to see a young woman with long silvery-white hair, one eye covered with a black eyepatch. She was dressed in a form-fitting black bodysuit and knee-high black boots. A heavy duster was draped across her body, giving her a sinister appearance.

"Come with me if you want to live," Cinque said brusquely.

* * *

_Staging Area A7  
Time-Space Administration Bureau Main Office  
09.03.0088_

"Ah, you're all here, and early, too," Teana said warmly.

Lutecia, Vivio and Victor nodded. Teana ran a critical gaze over the three of them. They certainly _looked_ ready, she thought idly. Like Teana herself, the three younger mages had already donned their Barrier Jackets and Knight Armor. All three also had their Devices out and ready.

Victor's Armed Device encased his right fist in a heavy metal gauntlet, studded with bright emitters of various functions. Teana thought it resembled a massively overbuilt version of Asclepius and Kerykeion.

Vivio stood dressed in her own Knight Armor. It strongly resembled her adoptive mother's protective clothing, but with ancient Belkan influences in the design. She held Burning Glory in Kreuz Form, leaning the staff-shaped Intelligent Device against her shoulder.

"Am I late, or are all of you early?"

Lutecia, Victor and Vivio whirled at the sound of a rough yet very familiar female voice, laying eyes on a tall, muscular woman dressed in armor of an ancient Belkan style, armed with a sword-form Device.

"Signum!" Vivio exclaimed.

"You're the fifth operative?" Victor asked skeptically. Signum stared at the young man for a long moment, her eyes lingering on his knight armor and his Device, Stella. She nodded approvingly.

"Hayate asked me for this favor," Signum explained. "She negotiated the matter with Enforcer-Commandant Harlaown and with Captain Lanster. They both agreed. We don't know what we're going to face at the Factory."

"It's time," Lutecia murmured softly. "Let's go bring Celica home."

"All right, boys and girls," Teana called out loudly, "let's get going. Activate the transfer port and input the dimensional coordinates! We're departing in five minutes!"

A chorus of four voices answered her in one great roar.

"YES, MA'AM!"

* * *

author's note:

Blurgh. School. Taking away valuable writing time!

Some interesting Reveals in this chapter! Hayes takes off the crazy-Gil-Graham mask and turns out to be playing a Thirty Xanatos Pileup. There's a bit more to it, though, which will be revealed in Chapter 9.

OH LOOK IT'S CINQUE, BLOWING SOME ASSHOLE UP. :D

(why yes, she's a Shadow, too...)

Yeah, the new person on the Let's Rescue Celica Team is Signum—you guys guessed correctly. :) I couldn't resist pitting Stele against another powerful ancient Belkan sword master! Don't worry, though—it's not going to be an easy fight for our favorite boob monster, and she doesn't have Agito to help her this time.

Anyway, since this is the second-to-last part (plus a short epilogue) the story is about over. The final battle is yet to come!


	9. Chapter 9

_Administrative Council Chamber  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
09.02.0088_

After five grueling hours of impassioned discussion, the council meeting had ended. Administrator Lindy Harlaown was eternally grateful—the session had been much more stressful than she had anticipated. She felt utterly drained; the Council was like a massive family of bickering children.

And the bomb she dropped upon them had resulted in absolute bedlam.

Of course, the Administrative Council had long known about Non-Administrated World #97's... unique status. The Administration had displayed no real interest, other than attempting to dig up any dirt they could use as leverage to exert more control over the Bureau.

Now, however... with the mission logs and most of the sensor data Tizona had picked up on Earth, the Administration was more than intrigued. Inducting a backwater world with technology vastly inferior to that of the larger IAFW, and one with no understanding of magic at all was not an attractive prospect.

But the Earthlings, this Unit Epsilon in particular, had not only managed to learn enough to understand the importance of the Linker Core, but had managed to modify and utilize bits and pieces of scavenged Bureau Device technology... in ways the Bureau had not already devised.

It was the _only_ sort of impetus that would have prompted the Council into action—the prospect of gaining a significant technological advantage over other space-faring civilizations.

And action they had taken. The Council had _ordered_ Lindy to directly brief TSAB Command and Ground Forces Command in a massive meeting-of-the-minds, with the goal of drawing up the necessary strategic and diplomatic plans. The IAFW wanted Earth to become a member-nation within the next _year. _It was ridiculously fast, absolutely insane—there would be no chance that the negotiations, even if they were smooth as oiled glass, would be over in a mere year.

Lindy smiled exhaustedly. She would worry about that later. The bomb had done its job, distracting the Council from the issues more close to home—not once was NSIS mentioned in the proceedings, and Celica Iris-Lynnfield was as good as forgotten. The memories of politicians were short indeed.

"Madame Administrator," a male voice said suddenly, breaking Lindy from her own private thoughts. "There is a priority message for you from Admiral Harlaown on an encrypted channel. Do you wish to take it in your office?"

Lindy turned to the small holographic communications display that had materialized near her and nodded to her aide. "I'll be returning shortly."

"Certainly, Madame Administrator."

The ship's captain turned politician stood up and stretched her weary muscles, hearing a number of small pops as joints shifted and pressure was relieved.

_I'm too young to be creaking and cracking like this,_ Lindy thought wryly. She walked through the back entrance of the Council chamber, her aide following closely behind. The short trip to the staff car was quiet and uneventful.

Lindy leaned back in the richly-upholstered seat as the aide started the car and drove off, heading to the Ground Forces HQ. It was not the seat of the Midchildan government, of course—Lindy was a representative to the IAFW for the Bureau, not for Midchilda itself.

Her position could be described as between a rock and a hard place. Lindy was a former military officer, now retired, working essentially to represent the only member of the IAFW who neither had a world of its own nor was actually a true member.

If the council meeting was indicative of anything, Lindy hoped, it would be that the Bureau and the IAFW would maintain the status quo. The TSAB's status as a neutral, quasi-independent agency prevented a host of problems, but she couldn't blame the larger government from wanting direct control. The bulk of the current administrators were in favor of a stronger central government, and the TSAB's independence was one of the many things they wished to rectify.

_The Iris-Lynnfield incident both nearly gave the store away, and solidified the Bureau's position and the status quo,_ Lindy thought, her lips curving upward in grim amusement at the irony.

* * *

"What is it, Chrono?" Lindy asked, staring intently at the image of her son, projected on a small holographic display suspended before her.

The visage of Admiral Harlaown looked haggard and exhausted, but there was a sparkle in his eyes that the elder Harlaown picked up on immediately.

"I've received the minutes from the Council meeting," Chrono began. "It appears as if your ploy worked. Perhaps a bit too well."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"You won't like the sound of this even more," Chrono said somberly. "After Agent Alphine returned with Tizona and the data on Unit Epsilon, I sent another agent to keep an eye on them. She just returned today with troubling news."

"Uh-oh," Lindy murmured. "What happened?"

"I haven't had the chance to fully debrief her yet, but the agent reported that Unit Epsilon has somehow predicted your move. They discovered that we're making a public and official push for first contact. It didn't take them long to initiate damage control protocols. Most of the data the organization held has been destroyed."

"Damn it," Lindy swore, biting her lower lip. "How did they find out?"

"We don't know yet," Chrono said honestly, "but the fact that they were able to detect the increased long-range sensor probe activity is troubling. According to my agent, they also learned that the _Shiva_ is hiding behind Earth's moon."

"Not hiding so well, it seems. Do you have any good news for me?" Lindy wanted to know.

"Actually, that's why I called," Chrono replied. "It was too late for my agent to take any research data—most of it had already been erased at that point. But she did one better—she brought back the organization's principal researcher!"

Lindy's jaw dropped.

"She did _what_?"

"My agent has Dr. Lily Vance, the head researcher behind Unit Epsilon, in custody now."

"Where are they?" Lindy demanded, leaning forward in her excitement. The capture of such a person put the Bureau a step ahead in the long process of inducting Earth as a member-world. While the experimental data may have been lost, Chrono and his Shadows would be able to extract a significant amount of information from the woman.

"They're in transit to Midchilda," said Chrono quickly. "When my agent contacted me, I diverted the NSIS spy ship _Thanatos _to the Sol system. We should have both at NSIS headquarters within the next eight hours."

"I'll leave it in your hands, then," Lindy said, smiling slightly. "You've just made my difficult job much easier."

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet," Chrono said testily. "We don't know what Dr. Vance knows. The organization was heavily compartmentalized, according to my agent."

"Any information is better than none at all," Lindy said gratefully. "Do your best, Chrono. I'll be expecting a full report and transcript of the debriefing and the interrogation."

"That goes without saying," Chrono replied. Then his voice softened, "The kids and Amy send their love. They would like to see more of their grandmother."

"I'm sure," Lindy muttered self-consciously, "and I'm also sure they'd like to see more of their father, as well."

Both mother and son grimaced at the thought. Both were highly-placed within the Bureau's command structure and both had incredibly busy jobs that took vast amounts of time away from their personal and family lives.

"When this incident is all wrapped up, you, the kids, Fate and I all ought to take a vacation together. Go to some far-away garden world and forget about the Bureau and the Shadows for a few weeks."

"I'd like that," Chrono said, disconnecting the communications link.

Lindy sighed and leaned back in her overstuffed executive chair, a contented smile on her face. The capture of Unit Epsilon's head researcher was a great boon—Lindy was sure that much could be learned from the woman.

_I'm sure the Device Meisters will want to pick her brain, as well,_ she mused silently, rubbing her forehead gently. She felt drained and exhausted, but ultimately satisfied.

* * *

_The Factory  
Tau-38c, Tau-38  
(Non-Administrated World #771)  
09.02.0088_

Thomas Hayes blinked his eyes groggily, waiting for them to regain focus. His head throbbed intensely—the end result of being hit by an explosive blast of magical force. He looked up to see the stern visage of Abraham Stele.

"You're not dead," the Belkan knight rumbled.

"What happened? I was knocked out—"

"Iris-Lynnfield is loose somewhere within the Factory," Stele said coolly. "I am not sure where. All of our local forces are combing the ship, attempting to locate her. We do not believe she escaped onto the planetary surface."

"The Precursor Artifact has been activated already," Hayes said. "We've already won. Who cares if she escapes? We have much more important things to worry about than chasing her down."

"Don't underestimate Iris-Lynnfield," Stele warned. "Escape is not her goal. We may have succeeded in your plan to manipulate her into activating the artifact for us, but she can still do substantial damage if we leave her be."

"She can't destroy the Al'hazred core," said Hayes dismissively. "She has irreversibly converted to the Al'hazred system—the device is completely immune to any magic she directs at it."

"No, but she can damage other systems," Stele snapped impatiently. "This is not your area of expertise, Admiral. Please allow me to handle this."

"What is the status of the Linker Core augmentation chambers?"

"They are fully operational and are functioning flawlessly," Stele said with obvious satisfaction. Hayes did not miss the inference. The old man stared at his subordinate, shock evident on his face.

"They hadn't even been tested yet, you fool! What if they had malfunctioned and you had died?"

"I have waited far too long for this," Stele said simply. "The system performs exactly as expected."

Hayes was no mage, but he took the huge knight at his word. It was not for Stele's safety that Hayes was so concerned, however. The big warrior was already prodigiously powerful—after having used the Al'hazred augmentation process, there was no telling how powerful he truly was.

_Perhaps I am now gazing upon the most powerful mage who has ever lived,_ he mused thoughtfully. _This begets a question: what exactly does he plan to do with this power?_

Hayes didn't understand. To his political mind, power was a means to an end. Money or influence or magic led to power, and power led to influence and control. The turncoat admiral did not believe Stele wanted either influence or control—the fact that he was still breathing was testament to that.

What Stele truly wanted was to be the strongest.

* * *

Celica smiled slightly as the door leading to the Factory's main reactor slid open without a sound. So far, she had not encountered much in the way of resistance, but the fighting had been fierce. The red-haired mage was not the most accurate shot with a linear rifle—firing such a weapon was vastly different than mentally manipulating the trajectories of magical bullets.

"It's not as easy as the Mid propaganda makes it out to be," Celica muttered aloud in the empty reactor control room. Beyond the thick triple-paned, reinforced glass stood the ship's power core—like most technology based upon the force colloquially known as "magic," the reactor itself was essentially a gigantic artificial Linker Core.

This one pulsed dimly, as if the system wasn't fully operational. Celica figured that was the case—after all, the ship had been heavily damaged when it crashed on this rock eons ago. The rogue faction didn't have the resources or the time to get it functional—all of their efforts had been focused on repairing the augmentation facility.

Celica walked up to the only remaining functional terminal and frowned slightly. Of course, the thing was secured, and it appeared as if the rogue faction had repaired this one in such a way that it used Mid-type protocols.

"They couldn't have made this easier for me, could they?"

The telltale hexagonal magical circle blazed into being beneath Celica's feet as she activated a meta spell.

"Seal Erase," Celica said, watching as the magical ward flared brightly once and then faded away, leaving the computer unprotected save for its digital protections. Glancing back at the door, Celica sat down at the unoccupied chair and began rapidly entering commands into the system.

"Been a while since I've done this without Tizona backing me up," she muttered idly as she attacked the security from three different fronts. While simultaneously running the decoy attacks, she cast another spell.

"System Scan."

Celica smiled as a holographic display materialized beside the existing monitors and displayed the results of her scan. There—the attacks had done their job, keeping the terminal's partial AI processor busy while she extracted the proper passwords.

Returning to the system prompt, Celica entered in the recovered password. The command prompt symbol changed—she had root access to the system and could shut down the reactor core with the push of a button.

She did so. The luminous, suspended orb of the ship's primary power source flickered brilliantly for a split second, and then began to slowly fade. The harsh lighting in the reactor control room winked out, plunging Celica into absolute blackness for a long moment before the safeties kicked in and auxiliary power took over. The room was bathed in a dim yellow light.

Now, to put her own locks into place. Celica, armed with root access and the complete control over the entire power control network, began to change passwords, delete links, erase important system files, ensuring that any attempt to re-initialize the reactor would be a slow and painful one.

She wasn't quite finished. Celica cast one more spell—this time, _not_ a meta spell designed to manipulate existing magic, but a physically destructive spell designed to sabotage. A bright blue flash of overloading energy surged through the adjacent terminals, destroying the connection to the hub. The terminal's holographic displays filled with snow and winked out of existence an instant later.

"There's no way anyone will be able to get this up and running again without rebuilding the system from scratch," she said with some degree of satisfaction.

The auxiliary power would not last for long, and the AMF would fall once it expired. Stele, or any of the other mages, would be able to find her easily after that. The situation looked bleak, yet she had made sure the rogue faction would not be able to use the augmentation lab until they rebuilt the entire power control network and brought the reactor back online.

A blue-white hexagonal magic circle materialized beneath her feet as she cast a spell, establishing a virtual emergency beacon. She was much too far away to reach any known contacts, but if any Navy patrol ships were within a few dozen light-years, they would hear it.

It wasn't much, she knew, but she hoped it would be enough.

* * *

_Midchilda – Low Geosynchronous Orbit  
NSIS Deep Space Frigate "Thanatos"  
09.02.0088_

"You didn't have to come to the _Thanatos_, Admiral," Cinque said, somewhat surprised. "I could have easily transported the item to HQ on my own."

"There are important reasons why I do not wish to have this conversation at the NSIS building," Chrono muttered, gesturing with a tray of food and drink from the ship's galley. "The Council knows too much as it is. I cannot risk any additional leaks."

"Understood, sir," the woman said smartly, saluting with razor-edge efficiency. Chrono waved at her dismissively and opened the sealed door, entering the _Thanatos_ brig alone.

A middle-aged, plain-looking woman sat at the only available chair. She looked miserable and frightened, yet there was something else about her...

_Wonder. Astonishment,_ Chrono thought with mild surprise. Her eyes were wide and her expression was that of one who had seen an entire army of ghosts. The director of NSIS sat down in the chair across from the table and slid the tray of food and drink over to the thunderstruck woman.

"You should eat something," Chrono said softly.

"How is it that you speak our language?" Dr. Vance asked immediately, ignoring the food.

"We don't," Chrono replied. "Universal translators are standard-issue for the Bureau's Naval Forces. You should know at least that much by now."

"Never found anything like that," she muttered, taking a sip from her drink. She found it to be remarkably similar to an obscure brand of fruit-flavored soft drink on Earth. "We only found broken and partially-functional pieces. Enough to observe the effects, learn and experiment on our own."

"When did Unit Epsilon first begin?" Chrono demanded.

"Long before I or you were even born," Lily said softly. "I suspect the organization was first created as a response to finding something you folks left behind. Damaged Devices, bits and pieces of your technology. We didn't know how it worked at first, but when I started working for the unit..."

"The theory was already in place?"

"Correct," Lily said. "Those who came before me had already figured out how it all worked, they just couldn't duplicate your technology. There's a massive difference in materials science, in processor design. We'd have to basically start from scratch, and the team had stagnated."

"Until you started working for them," Chrono reasoned.

"It wasn't just me," Lily said self-consciously. "It was a joint effort—we were able to construct our own devices with which to access the extradimensional power source. We could use it, but we still don't entirely understand it. Where the energy comes from, and where it goes when the energy state changes. It suggests that our universe is not a closed system—if it were, this would be impossible..."

Chrono nodded, but said nothing. He was no arcanist; he did not pretend to know the theory behind the functional magic he once utilized on a daily basis. He did not stop her, though—she was talking freely and openly. If he was patient, he would soon reap a significant harvest of information.

Chrono turned his attention back to the woman, still nattering on nervously, and did his best to look interested.

* * *

_Twenty minutes later:_

Chrono sighed softly as he walked out of the small cabin he had procured for Dr. Vance, sealing the door behind her. It would not do to let the woman have the run of the ship. Not that he suspected she would try anything, of course.

"Am I finished here, Admiral?" Cinque asked, walking up to meet him. The young woman withdrew a small black memory chip from her duster and handed it to the admiral. He knew what it was—data files he had requested during the deposition of Lily Vance—and didn't bother examining it.

"Yes," Chrono said after a long moment. "With the dissolution of Unit Epsilon, your original mission has been terminated early. Take the rest of the week off. I don't want to see your face around headquarters until Monday."

"Yes, sir," Cinque said softly, bowing before walking back down the corridor toward her personal quarters. Chrono sighed and shook his head.

"The least you could do is _act_ excited... at least for my sake," he complained aloud. Turning his attention back to the larger issue, Chrono sent a mental command to his Device, establishing a long-range voice communications link with Lutecia.

_Alphine, give me a status report._

_Admiral, we've just arrived on the planet's surface. The derelict vessel is in sight—we're beginning the first phase of the mission,_ Lutecia's mental voice came back, albeit badly distorted by the distance and local interference.

_Good. Bring Hayes in alive if possible. I'd like to speak to him in private._

_Understood, Admiral. We're starting the mission now. See you again soon,_ Lutecia responded, breaking the connection.

Chrono smiled grimly. The renegade Shadows would be stopped. No matter how powerful Stele was, nor how powerful the Factory could have made him, the director of NSIS believed that the issue was no longer in doubt. He held his agents in the highest regard, and he had faith in their abilities. This incident would end in victory.

_They will succeed._

_

* * *

_

_Planetary surface  
Tau-38c, Tau-38  
(Non-Administrated World #771)  
09.02.0088_

Teana gasped as she came out of the ultra long-range transfer spell, dizzy and slightly nauseous from the usual bout of transfer sickness...

… into a torrential rainstorm. Water fell from the sky in great sheets, and the wind blew at terrific velocities. Lightning split the pitch-black sky with alarming frequency, filling the air with the faint scent of ozone and illuminating the small, rocky island with cold light.

The entire team had already deployed simple kinetic barriers to keep out the lightning, the wind and the rain. It had been expected—Tau-38c's unusual weather conditions, caused by the planet's tidal lock, were well-anticipated.

The rain poured down, rolling over top the orange-glowing kinetic barrier that surrounded her body, as she took stock of where they were. She was standing rather than swimming; a good sign, as the permanent thunderstorms meant most of the night side was covered in shallow oceans.

The island in question was a small rocky outcropping jutting from the shallow seas of the rain-slashed night side. It was perhaps only a few dozen kilometers square. Long ago, the island had likely been submerged beneath the planet's seas, but changes in Tau-38c's bizarre weather caused a drop in the sea level, exposing the rocky island... and the derelict Al'hazred ship that loomed grimly above the sea.

Teana was shocked to see the silvery-gray metal of the crashed vessel remarkably free of any corrosion or weathering. The material looked as pristine as the day it had come out of dry dock—at least, until Teana's eyes fell over the massive craft's bow.

The entire front of the vessel had been severely damaged by the dimensional disjunction, then completely destroyed in the crash itself. Metal was twisted and rent, blackened and bubbled by extreme heat. From a quick visual scan, Teana could detect that the Al'hazred had designed their craft with the command section toward the stern.

_Shadow group, this is Shadow-Lead. Report._

_Lead, this is Shadow-One. Standing by for orders,_ Signum's mental voice came back. Teana waited a few moments longer as Victor, Lutecia and Vivio all checked in with their corresponding callsigns.

_The AMF surrounding the derelict vessel prevents any direct scans,_ Lutecia said abruptly.

_We need to know what we're up against. Shadow-Two, do your insects function within an AMF? _Teana queried.

_I'm sorry, but this AMF is far too strong,_ replied Lutecia grimly. _They'll stop functioning before they even get within two meters of the hull. We've got no choice but to go in blind._

_Understood. Shadow-One, find a way in._

Teana could faintly see the pink-glowing bubble of Signum's kinetic barrier through the vicious storm as she approached the rain-soaked hull of the fallen vessel. The most obvious means of entry would be through the damage to the bow of the ship, but the enemy had likely covered that.

There would be other ways, Teana knew.

_Sensors detect power surge at access panel C-27,_ Cross Mirage reported suddenly, opening a holographic display detailing a full schematic of the exterior of the fallen vessel.

"The panel is opening," Teana gasped instinctively, her voice completely drowned out by the pouring rain. _Shadow group, stay sharp! We have company!_

_I see it, _Signum came back evenly. Teana could barely see through the rain at this range, but she felt a distinct magical pulse as Laevateinn loaded a cartridge. The Armed Device flared with energy and was wreathed in blazing fire.

_Get ready, partner._

"Yes," Cross Mirage said aloud. "Detecting incoming enemy fire! Weapon type identified—unlicensed heavy linear rifle and standard-issue TSAB Naval Forces Storage Device."

Hypervelocity slugs whizzed through the air, but fortunately didn't manage to hit any of the team. Teana immediately responded by raising her combat barrier—and started barking orders mentally.

_Shadow-Two, send Garyuu inside to keep the panel from closing._

_Yes, ma'am!_

Teana ran forward as fast as she could across the slick wet rock, trying desperately to avoid falling. Signum was already hard at work, she could tell—the glow of her kinetic barrier was visible several dozen feet above the ground. Flashes of raving purple flame served as a brilliant counterpoint to the omnipresent lightning strikes.

_The panel is held open,_ Lutecia came back a moment later.

_Shadow-One, how much longer?_

_Give me a few more minutes, _Signum's mental voice came back in Teana's mind, sounding only slightly peaked, as if she had just taken a quick jog around the block. The red-haired Enforcer smiled tightly as Laevateinn flashed with fierce purple light, followed by a barely-audible scream of agony.

Teana ran toward the glowing rectangle visible against the derelict vessel's smooth gray hull. With Signum keeping the advance guard occupied, she didn't have to worry too much about catching a hypervelocity slug in mid-stride.

"Come on!" Lutecia implored loudly. Teana took Lutecia's outstretched hand and grimaced as the smaller woman levered her up through the access panel and into the far less noisy confines of the ship.

The rest of the team watched as Signum finished off the last of the four guards, her Armed Device's blade slamming heavily into the man's Barrier Jacket. The heavy blow sundered his armor and magical defenses, blasting his body back against the hull of the derelict vessel with a ringing _clang_!

"Signum, get in here! We don't know when more of them will be coming!" Teana shouted over the roar of the storm. The Belkan knight nodded wordlessly and broke into a run, sheathing Laevateinn as she moved.

"She's in," Teana told Lutecia. The summoner nodded and sent a mental command to Garyuu. The insect guardian responded by slamming a heavy, chitinous fist down on the control panel, rending metal, shattering electrical components.

The access panel slammed shut and sealed.

"All members accounted for," Teana said, brandishing Cross Mirage menacingly. Signum scanned the blank gray corridors for some sort of landmark, but found nothing.

"There's no labeling or signs or anything," Lutecia reported, seeing the confusion in Signum and Teana's eyes. "The original owners of this ship weren't human... they likely used different methods of conveying information."

"They were similar enough to us," Signum replied, "if the information contained within the Infinity Library is true."

"I hate to interrupt, but now isn't exactly the best time for a scientific debate," Victor said warily. "There's something not right here."

"What's going on?"

"Well, as near as I can tell," Victor explained, "the place is running on auxiliary power. The ship's primary reactor is offline. The AMF appears to be weakening, and it will eventually stop functioning entirely when aux power drops too low."

"How do you know all that?" Teana wanted to know.

"It's standard for most space-faring vessels," Victor said. "The lights are dim and they flicker from time to time, and see the red glow near each bulkhead? That is commonly used as an indicator that the ship is operating on aux power."

"But this is an alien vessel," Vivio objected.

"There's a reason the Al'hazred are also called the 'Precursors.' Our technology is largely based upon theirs—especially Belkan technology," Lutecia explained. It was well-known within the Shadows that Lutecia was an expert on ancient Belkan history and technology.

"Why is the reactor offline, then?" Vivio wanted to know.

"I have no idea," Victor said helplessly. "Perhaps they've had trouble getting this thing functional. The Precursor tech may be the template used for all modern Belkan and Midchildan systems, but it runs on a completely divergent system of core logic."

"It saves us the trouble of disabling the reactor ourselves," Signum rumbled. "We need to get moving."

"This ship is enormous, and nothing is labeled," Vivio protested. "How will we know where we're supposed to go?

"And as long as that AMF is still active, we can't rely upon our Devices' sensors to find Celica," Victor added grimly.

"I think I can do it," Lutecia said suddenly, "with a little help from a friend." The summoner pulled a small blue crystal earring from her pocket, showing it to the rest of the team.

"Iris-Lynnfield's Interface Device?" Teana asked rhetorically. "How will that help us? Devices are keyed to their wielder's Linker Core signature. Only the person who owns the Device can use it!"

"Tizona's no an ordinary Device," Lutecia said confidently. "Tizona, wake up."

The shard of crystal flashed with blue-white light and began to warm slightly in Lutecia's hand. It would take a moment longer for the Device to restart from a cold shutdown, Lutecia knew.

"Alert," Cross Mirage reported urgently. "There are heat signatures closing on this position." Teana stiffened slightly. It was, of course, impossible that their presence had gone unnoticed. Even without access to the dead ship's security network, and even considering the presence of a powerful AMF, the alarm had been sounded.

"The guards Signum took out didn't report in, obviously," Teana said by way of explanation. "Better hurry up with that, Alphine!"

"Tizona, can you find Celica?"

"Yes. Establish Linker Core proxy through personal Device. Initializing point-to-point networking with Asclepius."

"Incoming connection," Asclepius reported. "Wireless connection established."

"It's about to get hot in here," Victor said darkly. "How long is it going to take you to find her?"

"I do not have a time estimate," Tizona explained. "Passive scan is insufficient to locate the mistress. Lutecia Alphine, please establish active wide area search protocols."

"Asclepius," Lutecia said softly. The Device responded without words as a black-violet Belkan magic circle blazed into existence beneath Lutecia's feet. The two Devices, working in tandem, initiated the magical search.

"[Active Scanner]," Tizona declared. Spirals of combined blue-white and black-violet energy lanced outward at relativistic speeds, appearing as nothing more than streaks of blue and purple light.

"Get down!" Signum shouted, pushing Vivio out of the way as a group of three renegade mages rounded the corner, linear rifles brandished and ready. The man-portable magnetic accelerators dumped a staggering volume of fire at the infiltration team.

"Signum, Victor, take them out," Teana ordered as she sent a hail of magical bullets down the corridor. The small missiles would scarcely break through the enemy mages' kinetic barriers, especially under a strong AMF, but it would keep them hemmed in.

"[Aura: Lightning]," Stella intoned as a red-glowing, spinning Belkan magic circle materialized beneath his feet. The gauntlet-type Armed Device began to glow with a crackling argent radiance. Victor surged forward, bringing Stella up to guard his face as the enemy mages shifted targets from the group to the oncoming Belkan knight.

"[Diamond Shield]," Stella cried, erecting a strong, directional kinetic barrier. Hypervelocity slugs that hit the shield sizzled and were sent flying off in divergent directions, tearing gaping holes in the silvery-gray metal of the corridor.

Victor let out a roaring battle cry as he surged forward, shoulder-slamming heavily into one of the enemy mages, knocking the man from his feet and sending him sprawling.

"[Barrier Burst]."

A massive explosion tore through the center of the corridor, knocking one of the renegades to the floor and destroying her kinetic barrier, her head striking the side of the corridor. There was a wet _crack_ as her neck snapped, instantly killing her. The third mage managed to bring up a barrier just in time to deflect the detonation—

"_Shiden Issen_!" Signum cried as her blade, wreathed with flame, slashed through the man's Barrier Jacket, striking him with such force that he slammed into the corridor wall. He slumped down to the floor, unconscious but alive.

"Lutecia, how's it coming?" Teana wanted to know. "That wasn't the last of them, I'm sure."

"I have found her," Tizona announced triumphantly. "Interference and alien construction complicated matters. I cannot map the interior of this vessel."

"How are we supposed to find her, then?" Victor demanded. "All the corridors look exactly the same."

"Can you get us to her?" Lutecia asked softly.

"I can. Transmitting location," Tizona said helpfully. Lutecia smiled slightly as her own Device began to pulse with soft violet light. The data transfer complete, she could now get a general "feel" as to Celica's location.

"It's moving around a little," Lutecia murmured, "as if she isn't locked up... what? Oh... no." The summoner felt her blood suddenly turn to ice water as she felt something _else_ nearby.

"What's wrong, Alphine?" Teana demanded sharply. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Celica may become a ghost if we don't get our asses moving," Lutecia said bleakly. "Abraham Stele has found her."

* * *

"Nova Lancer!"

The concussive projectiles exploded ineffectually against the giant knight's stylized Belkan armor plate. Celica backpedaled, glancing around her. The wide atrium led back to the reactor control room, but the only exit was behind the behemoth looming over her.

"Pathetic," Abraham Stele scoffed derisively. "You rely too much on your Device, girl. Even with it, you would still be no match for me."

"Tell me something I don't know," Celica muttered.

"I have ascended," Stele said grandly, spreading his arms wide. "I have surpassed the limitations of mortal mages. I possess the might of the gods and the creators, and you... _you_ are insignificant. You are but an insect... and I will CRUSH you."

Celica stared at the man in shock as he was wreathed in blazing orange-red flame. His body began to float, lifting several inches off the metal deck. The red-haired mage watched in horror as magical power—far too much of it—pulsed through his body.

An impossibly-bright orange Belkan magical circle materialized beneath his slowly levitating form. Stele's mouth opened in a horrific scream of agony and rage as his eyes exploded into twin flares of magic. His armor—and the skin beneath it—began to crack and rupture, brilliantly shining from within. Flames of raw magic wreathed both of his hands, spilling molten light and searing heat from the joints in his armor.

_His physical form is being consumed by the magic, but it's not killing him! _Celica involuntarily took a step back, the waves of heat emanating from Stele's magic-soaked body almost unbearable.

"I will tear you apart," Stele promised, his voice amplified and distorted from the sheer volume of power flooding through his artificially-enhanced Linker Core.

Celica threw her hands up and hastily erected a kinetic barrier, but she was much too slow. An enormous pulse of invisible force and heat blew off from Stele's body, sending her flying through the air to crash heavily against a wall.

"You cannot win," Stele said, his voice thick with obvious relish. "I will kill you with my bare hands."

Celica blinked her eyes rapidly at the edging blackness around her vision, but it was too late. Stele's massive hand closed around her throat and clamped down with incredible force. She began to feel dizzy as her windpipe collapsed under the pressure—but he wasn't going to make this a fast death, Celica knew. The hand that held her suspended was unbearably hot—she could feel the soft flesh of her neck _cooking_ as Stele squeezed, slowly letting the life drain out of her.

_This is it,_ Celica thought bleakly. _Never thought I'd die of old age, anyway..._

Then, without warning, the pain stopped and she could breathe again as the hand released her. Celica gasped and collapsed in a heap, her body shaking as she was wracked by coughing fits.

"Interruption not appreciated," Stele roared, whirling around with inhuman agility, his right fist lashing out with incredible force. A black flash was suddenly interrupted as Stele's blow caught Garyuu directly in the center of mass. It was blindingly fast—Celica did not even have time to process the scene.

The insect guardian was flung across the wide corridor, his chitinous armor crumbling from the force of the blow. Stele glowered in annoyance as the summoned guardian, seriously injured, retreated back to its home dimension.

"Abraham Stele, knight of Belka," a rough female voice said, tinged with a strange combination of respect and contempt. "I've always wanted to meet you."

Celica's jaw dropped nearly to the floor as a tall woman, dressed in Belkan-style knight armor and wielding a sword-form Armed Device, came out from around the corner into the large atrium.

"Signum," Stele said with interest. "The leader of the Wolkenritter, General Yagami's personal task force. I, too, look forward to this meeting. It will be my pleasure to destroy you utterly."

Laevateinn's blade came up sharply. "I don't think so."

Stele laughed, a horrible, distorted sound, as he lifted his hand up and called forth _his_ Armed Device. The huge two-handed broadsword Ridill retrieved itself from a suspended state and materialized in his upraised hand. With a mocking salute, Stele launched himself into battle.

Celica backed away as fast as she could as Signum charged, bringing her sword up and around for a vicious spinning slash. The Armed Device's blade blazed with flame, but the attack was ultimately deflected as Stele effortlessly maneuvered Ridill's heavy blade to parry.

Signum dodged, just barely avoiding a heavy kick from Stele's blackened plate boots. She whirled around and slashed rapidly with her sword. Celica stood up and started running, trying to get to the other side—if Signum could keep the behemoth busy long enough, perhaps she could—

"Celica, get over here!"

The red-haired mage whirled at the sound of Lutecia's voice. She was surprised to see the summoner and Vivio both crouching behind Victor Stormhawk and a mage Celica identified as the famous Enforcer, Teana Lanster. Victor held up a potent directional barrier while Teana wielded her gun-form Device, ready to unleash hell upon Stele the moment Signum brought his defenses down.

"The AMF is almost completely gone," Teana said to Lutecia, who nodded briefly.

"Celica, how are you feeling?" Lutecia asked worriedly. "She's injured—Vivio, can you help?"

"Sure," Vivio said, leaning down to examine the older woman's wounds. Celica had not been seriously damaged by the explosion—the hastily-raised kinetic barrier had likely saved her from broken bones. The young blond woman began channeling healing energy into healing the worst of the injuries, the blistered and burned skin on Celica's neck.

"I'll be fine; nothing's broken," Celica said, shaking her head in spite of the burning pain. "We've got more important things to worry about right now!"

The lights in the atrium suddenly flickered and dimmed. "The AMF is completely down," Celica told them. "I knew it wouldn't hold much longer. Aux power has dropped too low to sustain it."

"What now, then?" Vivio wanted to know.

"We pull out and blow this place to hell," Victor said, watching as the fight between Signum and Stele began to shift in the huge glowing knight's favor. "Oh, _fuck_!"

"You cannot defeat me!" Stele roared, whipping Ridill around and charging forth, his magic-saturated body spinning in a whirling storm of steel and magic. Signum was too slow to dodge and was hit with the full force of the blow, blasting through her kinetic barrier and nearly knocking her from her feet.

"She can't stop him on her own!" Celica cried. "He's used the Factory's technology. There isn't a mage alive that's a one-on-one match for him!"

"What are your orders, Lead?" Victor said through gritted teeth. Teana took a deep breath and made the decision.

"Victor, Vivio, move into close range and assist Signum in weakening Stele's defenses. Lutecia, let's keep him on his toes from a distance and support our allies," Teana commanded.

The leader of the operation then turned to Celica, who was standing up, albeit quite shakily. Despite Vivio's hasty healing, her slender neck was still marred with blistered burns where Stele's cracked, magically-heated hand had gripped her. It would leave quite a scar, she knew, at least until she could spare the downtime to have it properly repaired.

"Celica, I know you're not quite fit for duty just yet, but there's one more loose end that needs to be tied up."

"Hayes," Celica said grimly, her mind following the same tack.

"Take care of it for me," Teana said bluntly. "You aren't a warrior—in this situation, you will be more of a liability than an asset."

"Yes, ma'am," Celica said, saluting Teana and smiling. She turned to walk away, but was stopped by Lutecia.

"Here," the summoner said, placing a small object into Celica's hands, "you'll need this."

Celica's smile widened even further as she felt the warmth emanating from Tizona's compact form. She gripped her hands tightly around the suspended Interface Device and nodded.

"Tizona, Blade Form!"

"Yes, mistress!"

* * *

Signum was getting tired.

She had never fought a foe like this before. Nothing she had ever encountered—not the Book of Darkness's berserk defense program, not the knight Zest in unison with Agito, not Enforcer-Commandant Harlaown herself—could even approach what she fought now.

Stele was no longer human. His body was nothing but a shell, a husk surrounding a core of incredible magical potential. He cast spells almost instantaneously, and his physical strength, reaction time and speed had been amplified to superhuman levels.

But he was _her_ foe, and she _would_ defeat him. Or she would die trying.

"Laevateinn!" Signum roared, snapping her blade back and low, preparing for a lightning-fast strike.

"Explosion!"

The Armed Device's action cycled multiple times as it loaded several cartridges, temporarily boosting Signum's Linker Core charge beyond its normal capacity limits. Wreathed in purple fire, she flashed forward with blinding speed, striking several blows that would have felled a lesser opponent.

Stele simply laughed, an unearthly sound that seemed to echo and resonate—of course, the man's lungs and vocal cords had completely burned away. He was a magical force-made-flesh, and the deadly strikes merely scored bright lines across his form.

"Fool!" Stele mocked, whipping Ridill around to strike Signum with terrific force. She brought her blade around to deflect the impact, but was a moment too slow. Ridill's blade tore through her kinetic barrier, slashing against the side of her torso, searing a gash through the flesh.

Signum hissed aloud in pain, but set her teeth and charged in for a renewed, furious assault. Stele easily picked off the first attack, but failed to react fast enough for the second one. Signum's sword scabbard caught the flat of his blade with enough force to knock Ridill out of his grip and skittering across the deck.

And the third attack, from an unanticipated source, hit him full-force.

"[Discharge]," Stella declared. Victor aimed the palm of his red-glowing gauntlet at Stele's body and fired, releasing the stored elemental charge. A basketball-sized burst of magical heat and flame exploded with a great roar, the impact of detonation sending Stele staggering back.

"Burning Glory, Revolver Form!" Vivio shouted, flipping her staff-cross Device around as the weapon began to collapse in upon itself, forming a heavy-barreled revolver with no bore.

She darted forward, heedless of her own safety, and raised the strange weapon to strike, pulling the trigger twice in rapid succession. The loaded cartridges emptied, causing the heavy barrel to flare with multicolored light.

"[Burning Cross]," the Device said as Vivio charged forward, striking two heavy blows against Stele just as Signum regained her balance.

The behemoth, staggered by the sudden, unexpected attacks, was temporarily off-balance. Lutecia stepped forward and cast a spell; the black-violet magical circle blazing beneath her feet.

"[Shadow Shield]," Asclepius declared, and a translucent purple dome of force materialized above both herself and Teana, protecting the marksmanship expert as she prepared to unleash a devastating attack.

"You are no match for me," Stele rumbled, his hands clenching into massive fists, blazing with barely-contained power. He spun around and threw a vicious punch at Signum, who brought her Device up to block at the last moment. The impact detonated the power charged in Stele's hand, sending the woman staggering back, off-balance.

Stele pressed his advantage, but it was soon apparent that the coordinated attacks of his opponents could seriously threaten him. He could no longer feel pain, but he could still detect the damage dealt as the genetic descendant of the Sankt Kaiser struck a flurry of heavy blows.

"We _are_ a match for you!" Victor cried, leaping forward. Stele backpedaled and attempted to deflect the blow, but Victor and Stella were too fast. The heavy plated gauntlet connected with a solid _crack _and exploded outward on impact, tearing Stele's jaw off and sending it flying across the room.

Stele roared wordlessly, brilliant wisps of orange-glowing magical energy leaking from the wound. He brought a mailed foot up and around, catching Victor in the stomach with such force his kinetic barrier shattered. Victor made a hoarse retching sound and doubled over, coughing wetly.

"_Shiden Issen_!" Signum cried, surging forward, ignoring the pain of her injuries, Laevateinn slicing forth, the blade scoring a deep gash.

"Burning Claw!" Vivio shouted wrathfully, coordinating her attack with Signum's. The two struck simultaenously, focusing on a single part—Stele's right arm. The hammer blows, detonating with magically-enhanced force, blasted the limb already weakened by Signum's slash.

In a burst of brilliant molten orange, the arm fragmented and was blasted off, sending pieces of charred flesh and blackened armor plating skittering across the deck. Pulses of bright energy flowed from the terrible wound, dripping molten blobs of raw magic.

"Any time now, Teana!" Lutecia shouted, sighting down Asclepius as the three close-combat fighters moved in a coordinated withdrawal.

Yellow-orange lightning crackled down Teana's body as a Midchildan magical circle materialized beneath her feet. She held both instances of Cross Mirage close, preparing her most powerful bombardment spell.

"Ready!" Signum shouted. Victor and Vivio immediately shot off in the direction of the main corridor, both having no desire at all to be in the same room when the inevitable devastation was loosed.

"Now!" Lutecia cried, loosing a withering barrage of magical projectiles that hemmed Stele in, not truly hurting him, but draining his kinetic barrier of energy with every impact.

Stele roared deafeningly, his voice lost after Victor's shattering blow ruined his jaw, and he turned, cat-quick, his remaining hand glowing with the light of a miniature sun. A searing beam of orange-red energy flared from the glowing point of magical energy, melting huge troughs into the silvery metal of the atrium's walls.

"Phantom Blazer!" Teana roared. Cross Mirage's dual barrels glowed with brilliant intensity as a wide beam of orange-yellow magical destruction lanced out.

"_Karyuu Issen_!" Signum cried, sending a massive blade of pure magical flame out in a swing that slashed through the air, directly aimed at Stele's body.

Simultaneously, with near-perfect coordination, the magical abomination that was once Abraham Stele was hit from two directions with a pair of incredibly potent bombardment attacks.

The abomination's kinetic barrier was torn apart, shattering as if it were made of glass. Armor plating and ruined, cracked flesh blew outward, leaving tremendous gaping holes in Stele's body. Liquid streams of condensed magic poured from the "wounds."

Roaring in agony and rage, Stele shifted his beam of intense destructive energy and caught Signum across her legs, sending her careening backwards. The impact and the intense heat dropped the female knight instantly, bright blood spurting from the wound.

"Signum!" Teana screamed, but she had her own problems to deal with. Stele, though severely weakened, managed to shift the beam, slicing through Lutecia's shadow shield. The magical discharge would kill her if it connected, Teana knew—her armor and kinetic barrier were nowhere near as strong as Signum's, and the attack had sliced through her defenses as if they were tissue paper.

"[Flash Move]."

Teana felt a bright flash of pain on the back of her head and opened her eyes. Vivio had tackled her to the ground, the beam of disintegration arcing overhead, missing by half a meter.

"Thanks, Vivio. You saved my ass," Teana breathed, wincing painfully. The high-speed collision may have saved her from certain death, but Vivio had tackled her with enough force to break a rib or two.

"Cia, finish this now!" Vivio cried, not bothering to respond to Teana. Lutecia nodded softly and fixed the coldest red-eyed glare on Stele. The black-violet Belkan magic circle materialized beneath her feet, blazing with barely-contained power.

"You're dead," Lutecia promised grimly.

Asclepius's emitter jewels began to pulse with crackling black-violet lightning. Lutecia closed her eyes and poured all of her power—the tremendous capacity of a summoner's Linker Core—into a single, incredibly powerful spell, one that caused a tiny, localized dimensional dislocation.

"[Shadow Warp]," Asclepius said ominously.

The air around Stele began to warp and distort, bending weirdly. Arcs of black-violet lightning erupted from the center of the dimensional distortion as the very fabric of reality was torn asunder. Space and time shattered and broke apart around Stele's body.

The magical abomination's kinetic barrier, already severely weakened by the dual strike from Signum and Teana, could not hold up under the terrific forces it was being exposed to. The hole in space-time collapsed upon itself, squeezing Stele's body with crushing pressure. The monster Stele roared ineffectually, the sound barely audible from within the field of warped reality.

"Die, you son of a bitch," Lutecia said wrathfully, clenching her right hand tightly, completing the spell.

The distortion field collapsed and exploded with tremendous force. Lutecia shielded her face and immediately erected a kinetic barrier around her and Signum's unconscious form, protecting them both from the blast.

The force of the explosion rocked the entire craft, kicking up enormous clouds of vaporized metal and equipment. Secondary and tertiary blast waves rolled outward as the fractured reality began to reorganize itself, staggering the exhausted combatants.

Lutecia lowered her arm, her heart thudding at a thousand kilometers per hour, quickly scanning the atrium for any sign that Stele had somehow survived the blast...

But there was nothing left of the magical abomination that had once been Abraham Stele. Lutecia's most powerful offensive spell had blasted a gaping, four-meter-wide hole in the deck clear to the level below, the melted edges of the metal glowing red-orange.

"Ugh... Vi... I..." Lutecia gasped as she collapsed to the deck, the adrenaline rush fading, leaving behind a cold, hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her Linker Core had been overloaded by the devastating attack and was drawing on her own life energy to prevent a collapse.

"Cia!" Vivio cried, her eyes widening in shock, rushing over to the fallen young summoner.

"Don't worry about her," Signum said weakly, struggling to stand up. Her legs were badly burned and bloodied, but thanks to the strength of her defensive barriers, they hadn't been severed from her body. Teana limped over to the Belkan swordswoman's position and helped her stand, ignoring the searing pain in her own broken ribs.

"Alphine's okay," Victor said, leaning over the fallen woman and examining her critically. "She's alive, just unconscious. Overloaded her Linker Core with that spell, and her body just didn't have enough energy to keep her moving."

"Is he really dead?" Vivio asked, almost fearing what the answer might be.

"If the explosion didn't kill him," Victor explained, "whatever's left of his body—or whatever he has that keeps him moving—has been pulled into the null space between dimensions."

"Even _if_ he survived somehow," Teana said, "he'd never be able to escape. Magic stops functioning in null space."

"Let's get out of here," Vivio said emphatically.

"Not yet," Teana countered. "We still have a job to do. The Factory is far too dangerous to leave alone; it must be destroyed. Vivio, can you help me set the demo charges? Signum isn't in any condition to walk and Lutecia's out cold."

"Okay," Vivio said, eager to help in order to expedite their departure. "What about Celica?"

"She should be done with _her_ mission very soon," Teana replied with a slight smile. "Let's get to work."

* * *

_Ten minutes earlier:_

Celica didn't really expect Hayes to be where she had left him, but it wasn't too hard to find out where the man had gone. He was a smart man, and he knew when to cut his losses and run.

He would try to escape, of course. Celica intended to stop him.

"How's the link?"

"New core logic downloaded and integrated into primary systems," Tizona reported after a moment. "Secondary and specialized combat systems will not be available without a complete system update."

"Good enough for now. Can you patch into this thing's system?" Celica asked, tapping the augmented-reality helmet she still wore. Tizona complied wordlessly and established a connection, downloading the detailed map of the facility into his memory.

Celica took the helmet off and tossed it to the deck plating, sighing in relief. The helmet was quite heavy—she never really understood how soldiers managed to wear them all the time!

"Can you find the transfer port they used to get here?" Celica asked her Device.

"I have already located it," Tizona replied. A holographic display materialized before her eyes, containing a ghostly wireframe map of the entire Al'hazred vessel. A bright red indicator flashed, two levels below.

"That's where we need to be," Celica said grimly. The display vanished as she tightened her grip around the dagger-form Device, picking up speed despite her injuries. Fortunately, Stele didn't have a chance to hurt her very badly—the mage smiled slightly as she considered her friends.

She knew they would succeed. And in order for the mission to succeed, she needed to get Hayes—and she needed him alive.

That part rankled her, but she knew it was necessary. The planning and organization needed to subvert nearly one-sixth of NSIS's resources and personnel must have been staggering. The information that Chrono could pull from his former second-in-command's mind would be absolutely necessary to clean up the remaining renegade elements—and secure against such a thing ever happening again in the future.

Celica dropped down through a maintenance access hatch. There was no ladder—she had to remind herself that the Al'hazred were not human, and they had different ideas of design.

"The transfer port is in the next room over," Tizona reported after a moment. "I am detecting a spike in the ambient magical energy. The transfer port is being activated using mana cells."

"Shit, no time for subtlety. Let's go!"

Tizona agreed wholeheartedly as Celica broke into a run, turning the corner and nearly slamming into the sealed metal door. Even without the augmented-reality helmet, Celica knew where the activation button was located.

"Tizona, is the door sealed?"

"Simple electronic lock only. No magical seal detected," Tizona reported. _Of course not,_ Celica knew. Hayes was not a mage himself—his Linker Core was measured to be of extremely low capacity. He had entered the Naval Forces anyway—significant magical aptitude was by no means a requirement for enlisting.

"Is it just me, or do all the high-ranking Bureau officers with no magical talent eventually end up betraying us?"

"It's just you," Tizona said snidely.

"Oh, who asked you, anyway?" Celica muttered. "Can you get this door open or not? If that bastard gets away, we're _still_ done for. The Admins will hang me out to dry and nothing Chrono or General Yagami can do will stop them."

"Electronic lock bypassed," Tizona said helpfully, ignoring the rest of his owner's statement. Celica sighed and flipped him over in a back-handed grip. The sight of a knife held in such a manner was often considered intimidating. Amusingly enough, Celica had learned in her close-combat training that a reverse grip was much more useful for _defense_ than attack.

Still, the media-created image was what she wanted to capitalize on. It would not be very difficult to terrify Hayes, not after his entire operation—years of planning and intense organization—started to crumble down around him.

The door slid open.

The transfer port was an industrial transportable model, one designed to be dropped on prospective colony worlds by advance scouts. Likely the rogues had needed such a large transfer port in order to send materials back and forth quickly without having to use cargo vessels.

Hayes was bent over the device, his back turned toward Celica, fully engrossed in the task of connecting the transfer port to the backup mana cells. Celica noted the number of mana cells—with as many as they had, the charge produced could send him literally anywhere within administrated space.

Celica crept up behind him silently and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi there," she said sweetly.

The much older man recoiled in shock, but wasn't fast enough. The red-haired mage clenched her empty left hand into a fist and slammed it into Hayes's protruding gut. With a sickly wheeze, Hayes doubled over and stepped back, stumbling and nearly falling.

"Tizona, lock the transfer port," Celica ordered.

"Yes, mistress. Transfer port sealed."

"_You_! You... you rotten bitch!" Hayes shouted hoarsely, glaring hatefully up at the woman, clutching at his midsection in agony. "I should have killed you when I had the chance!"

"Quite right," Celica said matter-of-factly. "You fucked up big-time when you left me alive after what you put me through. Unfortunately, I don't get to kill you—I need you alive to make sure the Council doesn't lock me up and throw away the key—but nobody ever said I couldn't _hurt_ you first."

Hayes howled in agony as Celica flipped Tizona around and slammed the dagger-form Device's pommel into his right kidney. She followed the painful strike with a heavy kick aimed directly at the man's groin, sending him crashing to the deck. Moaning from the excruciating pain, he glared at her with unbridled hatred.

"You... fucking whore... you ruined everything! You—"

"Oh, shut up," Celica snarled viciously, her booted foot stomping down with crushing force on his ankle. There was a loud _crack_ as the bone snapped in two. Hayes bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain—hard enough to draw blood. Sweat beaded on the man's forehead.

"You shouldn't make me enjoy this," Celica pointed out. "I just might keep beating you until you pass out." She kicked him again in the stomach, hard enough to overbalance herself slightly. Hayes retched and vomited, choking as the bile filled his mouth and nostrils.

"All right! All right... stop it! I surrender myself into your custody," Hayes wheezed, his voice cracking from the pain.

"Good," Celica said coldly. "Tizona, secure the prisoner."

"Yes, mistress. [Stasis Bind]."

Hayes gasped in pain as the binding energy tightened around his ankles and wrists—a bit tighter than was necessary, Celica knew. Tizona had obviously picked up on his mistress's feelings—and of course, the AI knew well what this bastard had done to her.

There was only one thing left to do. Celica opened a communications link on an encrypted Bureau channel—the one most commonly used by Enforcers.

"Lanster, this is Iris-Lynnfield," Celica announced. "I have the prisoner in custody. Go ahead and complete the operation."

"Understood, Iris-Lynnfield," Teana's voice came back, slightly distorted from the interference. "I'm uploading the pickup point to Tizona for you. Meet us there within ten minutes."

"I have my own way out," Celica explained. "Don't bother waiting up for me."

"Acknowledged," Teana said immediately, not bothering to question the woman. Celica closed the communications link and turned back toward the transfer port. A blue-white hexagonal magical circle glowed softly above the device—Tizona's seal.

"Unseal the transfer port and prime the mana cells," Celica said. Her Device complied immediately—the lock disappeared, and the status indicators on the mana cells instantly turned green.

"Transfer port active," Tizona reported. "Dimensional coordinates entered."

"Let's go home," Celica said wearily.

* * *

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
09.04.0088_

Admiral Chrono Harlaown pressed a button on his desk, unsealing the door leading into his office. His secretary had already alerted him to the presence of one of his agents. A young woman with dark hair and bright blue eyes walked into the room, dressed smartly in the royal-blue uniform of the Naval Forces.

"Admiral, the prisoner has been secured in interrogation room #3," Accela said calmly. "I'll prepare the appropriate paperwork for processing."

"Good. I'll take it from here. You're dismissed," Chrono said softly, not bothering to look up from his desk. The multitude of holographic displays suspended above his desk scrolled reams of information concerning the incident. Since he had forcibly sent Cinque home on a week's vacation, a lot of extra work his secretary wasn't cleared for fell to him.

Chrono sighed heavily. It had been concluded, at least in action, but there would be a veritable mountain of paperwork to follow. Hayes could cool his heels in the interrogation room for now. He was likely still in a great deal of pain after the beating Celica had given him, Chrono figured.

_Not that he didn't deserve every bit of it and then some,_ the former Enforcer thought bitterly. By all rights, Hayes _should_ have been executed, right then and there, by the hand of the woman he nearly destroyed.

But there were concerns that went above his personal desires. The Council's attention may have been temporarily deflected by Administrator Lindy Harlaown's plan to induct Earth as an administrated world, but they wouldn't let sleeping dogs lie for long. They would eventually come back to NSIS, and Chrono wanted to get to them first.

With Hayes alive and in custody, he would be able to hand them a scapegoat. By offering the traitorous flag officer up as a blood sacrifice to the altar of Justice, Chrono prayed that the Shadows would be left alone.

"Without the autonomy we have now," Chrono said aloud, "we'd never be able to avoid political corruption as a puppet of the Administrative Council."

"I agree completely," a very familiar female voice said from behind him.

Chrono stifled a groan of frustration and turned around slowly, coming face-to-face with General Hayate Yagami—one of the famous "Aces," SS-rank aerial mage, comrade-in-arms and Supreme Commander of the City Defense Forces.

She was also the only mage in the entire Bureau who could teleport inside his office unnoticed, unannounced and unauthorized—a little fact that irritated him to no end.

Which, of course, was precisely why she did it.

"I had Celica strengthen and redesign the wards around my office to keep the likes of you out," Chrono said sourly. "How did you manage to bypass them this time? Never mind, I'm not sure I even _want_ to know."

"It's good to see you, too, Chrono," Hayate said warmly. "I came to discuss something important. It really couldn't wait."

"I have to pick apart Hayes's brain before I can hand him over to the Enforcers," said Chrono defensively. "Just give me two days and then Fate can have him, with a grand trial and everything. Of course, with NSIS being what it is, the whole thing will be bullshit—I'm sure my sister won't like that very much, either."

"I'm not here about your prisoner," Hayate said innocently. "For the next few days, as far as the Bureau is concerned, he doesn't exist."

Chrono sighed. At least he got the answer he was hoping for. "So, what _are_ you here for, if not that?"

"Your mother dropped an enormous bomb on the Bureau when she pressed for an effort to extend Earth an invitation as an administrated world. The upper echelons of the Bureau are in complete chaos over the announcement—something you wouldn't have heard about, cloistered here in the shadows as you are."

"Of course I heard," Chrono snorted. "Information is my weapon, Hayate. I already know as much, if not more, than you do."

"Then you also must have heard that the Bureau wants to create a special task force to deal with the inevitable problems this transition will cause. You know as well as I do that Unit Epsilon's activity was not generally known to the populace of Earth. Many will see our invitation as an _invasion_."

"Terrorism is inevitable," Chrono agreed. "Yes, I've heard the mutterings about a task force. I assume they'll reconstruct Special Riot Force 6?"

"That's what many of the flag officers suggested, yes," Hayate said, "but you and I both know that mages like Subaru, Caro, Nanoha and Fate aren't suited for this kind of work. The Bureau takes prospective mages and builds them up into heroes of justice. They emphasize strong morals, great kindness and gentle warmth. The heroes of justice the Bureau creates just aren't very good at working in the _shadows_."

Chrono did not miss the emphasis on the last word. He knew what Hayate was asking, but he ran his organization somewhat differently than the rest of the Bureau. The command structure within NSIS was much more rigid, but at the same time, the individual agents under his command had much more freedom. Under special circumstances, they had the option to turn down a given assignment, and this was definitely one of those circumstances.

Of course, Chrono knew damn well exactly _who_ Hayate had in mind for the special force—and he knew what their answers would be, should he give them the assignment.

"I'll talk with the three of them," Chrono said after a long moment. "I suspect that the individuals you want will all agree to the mission—they're all bright enough to understand the ramifications if everything goes sour."

"Thank you, Chrono," said Hayate with some degree of relief. The admiral allowed himself a small smile—for once, General Yagami _hadn't_ been two steps ahead of him when something she wanted was on the line.

"You really thought I might not agree?"

"I actually wasn't sure," she admitted, biting her lower lip. "Lutecia, Victor, Celica... the three of them have been through hell with this incident. I wouldn't be surprised if you sent all three of them on a two-month administrative leave."

"I _tried_," Chrono said lamely, "but all three of them unanimously told me to shove it and that they'd all be back to work by Monday. I had to threaten to put Celica on deep-space sensor duty for a month if she didn't go to the hospital to get the burns on her neck repaired."

"You've got a lot to be proud of with subordinates like that," Hayate pointed out, smiling slightly.

"Oh, I am. Agents like Alphine, Stormhawk and Iris-Lynnfield... they're the future of this organization. Without people like them, NSIS really _would_ be what the Council believes us to be."

"Thank you, Chrono, for hearing me out," Hayate said gratefully, dipping her head slightly in a military bow. "It's going to be ugly no matter how we go about it, but I feel a little more optimistic about things knowing we'll have solid, reliable people on the ground out there."

"Don't mention it. Don't _ever_ mention it," Chrono said with a chuckle. "I need to get back to work, Hayate. It's good to see you, under any circumstances."

"I'll find my own way out—"

"Oh, no you don't," Chrono interrupted, holding a hand up. "You'll leave my office like everyone else—through the _door_, and have my secretary clear you to leave back to the Spire."

"But it's a lot faster if I—"

Chrono just laughed.

* * *

author's notes:

Holy crap the finale!

Also the longest chapter! I was afraid I'd have to break it up into two chapters, but I figure, you guys have been waiting long enough for the final battle.

This is effectively the end of _false _light, though there's actually one more (pretty short) chapter remaining.

It's an epilogue for some more Lutecia/Celica/Victor/Cinque character interaction that also leads into the sequel to _false light,_ which is called _the truth_.

Bonus: If anyone guesses where the idea for Stele's "ascendant" form came from, they win e-cookies. :) Hint: the inspiration came from the reason why this chapter was so slow coming out.


	10. Epilogue

_Celica's apartment  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
02.27.0089_

Celica Iris-Lynnfield opened her gray eyes and blinked several times, trying to force her mind into functionality. It had been a rough week—ever since the end of the Renegade Incident, as it was called within NSIS, the admiral had been sending her on more and more field missions.

The events of the incident had apparently quadrupled her value to the Bureau and the Shadows, Celica knew—as the only living practitioner of the Al'hazred magic system, there were things she could do that nobody else alive was capable of doing.

_And with the destruction of the derelict science vessel known as the Factory, nobody else can replicate what I've done_, she mused thoughtfully. The red-haired mage tossed back her blankets and sheets, standing up on the richly-carpeted floor of her bedroom.

"Sometimes," Celica began, "I wish things would have just returned to the way they were. Especially when those things _hurt_ this much..."

"Admiral Harlaown's actions are sound considering your new assignment," a mechanical-sounding masculine voice replied unnecessarily. Celica whirled around and glared sharply at the shard of blue-white crystal sitting on her nightstand table.

"Nobody asked _you_," she snorted, picking up the Interface Device and fitting it onto her ear. "Are you ready for this? It's going to be a lot more physically-demanding than anything else we've ever done before."

"I am certain," Tizona replied, his artificial voice sounding miffed. "Dr. Finenio has reinforced my frame and redesigned my combat forms per your requests and my adjusted performance requirements."

"It's going to be weird being reassigned as an independent," Celica muttered in a low tone. "It'll take some getting used to, not having NSIS's resources at my fingertips."

"You will manage," Tizona said sardonically.

"Oh, shut up," the mage snapped good-naturedly. "We're supposed to meet General Yagami in two hours. Think we can go pick up Alphine and Vic before then?"

"Official City Defense traffic reports are showing only mild congestion through the downtown corridor," Tizona responded after checking the network.

"If only I wasn't completely useless with movement magic," Celica muttered, walking into the bathroom and turning the shower on full-force. Hot water cascaded down from the shower head as the young woman stepped inside.

The near-scalding water pounded against her bare skin, massaging away the aches and pains so unfamiliar to her. She closed her eyes for a long moment, enjoying the sensation, when Tizona emitted a triple beep.

"Incoming communications link," Tizona announced.

"Connect, audio only," Celica said absently. "Hello?"

"Iris-Lynnfield, I apologize for catching you in the shower," the voice of Admiral Chrono Harlaown said over the audio link.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "I overslept a little."

"In any case," Chrono continued, clearing his throat self-consciously, "I just wanted to tell you that I wish you the best on your new assignment. You won't be reporting to me until the mission is complete, and I wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"If I need anything from you on this mission, we're all essentially fucked," Celica deadpanned.

"I'm well aware," the admiral replied soberly. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that even though you are ostensibly an independent organization, you can still count on us to help you if things fall apart."

"Thank you, Admiral. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me finish bathing."

"Understood," Chrono said, chuckling. "Good luck out there, Celica."

The communications link was closed. Celica sighed and ducked her head under the stream of water, washing her hair before cutting off the shower and stepping out of the stall.

* * *

_Secure Briefing Room #A74  
Ground Forces Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
02.27.0089_

"Looks like you two beat me here," Celica said lamely, waving to the two Shadows who stood behind their chairs, waiting for the rest of the assembled Bureau personnel to arrive.

"You overslept," Tizona put in snidely.

"Another late-night bender, eh, Celica?" Victor Stormhawk asked, snickering slightly. Lutecia Alphine glared at the blond man and jabbed him in the kidney with an elbow. "Ow! What?"

"The admiral wants to turn me into some kind of ninja computer nerd," Celica said dryly. "This was the seventh field deployment I've been sent on since the Incident! _And_ it was only two days after he sent me to the Ground Forces' Three-Day Supplementary Course!"

"He just wants you to get a bit more combat experience," Lutecia pointed out truthfully. "Granted, you have been named commander of the operation, but considering the nature of this mission, there's no telling what you'll have to do. It only makes sense to have every member in tip-top shape."

"He threatened to give Instructor Takamachi my contact info and a little note saying that she ought to have me run through basic again," Celica complained.

"You almost died during the Renegade Incident," a new voice said from behind, soft yet simultaneously rough. "The admiral merely wants to increase your chances of survival, as this mission will be considerably more dangerous."

"Cinque," Celica said with interest. "I didn't know the admiral was going to assign you to the task force, too."

"We are the only four NSIS agents assigned," the silver-haired woman explained, standing behind the chair on Celica's right side. "The rest of the team will be drawn from other divisions of the Bureau."

"Do we know who?" Victor inquired.

"The admiral did not inform me," Cinque said. "As far as I know, we will find out who else we will be working with when General Yagami arrives to start the briefing."

"The briefing itself is supposed to last two days," Lutecia noted. "This is going to be a tough mission."

"You mean I'm stuck in this stupid conference room for two days?" Victor bitched loudly. Lutecia scowled at the blond man and again jabbed him none-too-gently in the kidney with her elbow, eliciting a yelp of pain.

"Yes, you're stuck in this stupid conference room for two days," a familiar female voice said from the door. As the figure walked in, Celica easily recognized her as General Hayate Yagami, the Supreme Commander of the City Defense Force and an important general officer within the Bureau.

_The Mid government probably thought it would be politically expedient to assign a Bureau officer to the post after Regius died, rather than just promoting another Ground Forces colonel,_ Celica mused idly.

"General Yagami," Celica said respectfully, saluting. "Where are the remaining task force members?"

"They are behind me in the hallway," Hayate said, entering the conference room and taking her seat at the head of the long table. More people filed into the room, some of whom Celica recognized, others she did not.

"Allow me to make the introductions and then we'll get started," Hayate said in a ringing voice of command, getting right to the point. "The five individuals who arrived early are Commander Celica Iris-Lynnfield, Lieutenants Lutecia Alphine and Victor Stormhawk and Warrant Officer Cinque Nakajima. They are with NSIS."

Celica detected some distorted muttering through thoughtspeech, but she didn't care to decrypt the stream and listen in during an important briefing. In any case, she already knew what the muttering was _about_.

"I'm sure most of you will recognize the rest. Before we get into the briefing proper, I'll hand the floor over to Commander Iris-Lynnfield to outline each member's role."

Celica stood up and surveyed the gathered individuals. This was going to be one hell of a tough mission, but at least the general had given her some of the best personnel available within the Bureau's purview.

"As you all know, my name is Commander Celica Iris-Lynnfield. I don't really care what you call me, as long as you follow operational security procedures during sorties. I'll be outlining the roles for every member of the task force—officially known as the Joint-Organizational Operational Squad, Vanguard.

"For the duration of the mission, all of you who are on active duty will be temporarily transferred to NSIS within the Independent Division, reserved for agents who pursue unusual and difficult missions. Those of you who are not Bureau officers will be attached as temporary civilian consultants."

Celica paused for a moment, critically examining the faces of the various individuals who would be under her command for the duration of this mission. It wasn't her first command operation by far—she didn't attain a rank of Commander for nothing, after all—but this would be one of the most complex. Many of the people working under her were heroes of the Bureau, people who had been involved in the highest-priority incidents.

She did notice that none of the high-powered "Aces," as they were called, had been added to the team's roster. Outside of the four Shadows, the majority of the Bureau personnel were specialists in areas other than combat. Celica understood the logic behind this decision.

"Combat operations will be handled by Lieutenants Alphine, Stormhawk and Warrant Officer Nakajima. Assisting them for scouting and recon operations: Master Sergeant Vice Granscenic and Church Knight Sein. Transport and logistics: Warrant Officer Alto Krauetta. The base command staff will consist of Lieutenant-Commander Griffith Lowran, Dr. Yuuno Scrya and Dr. Shario Finenio.

"I have been assigned by General Yagami and Admiral Harlaown as the mission's commander. I will command the field operations and share cyberwarfare and data security duties with Dr. Finenio."

The individuals named all stood and saluted as Celica went through the roster. The team was small, she was sure all of them were thinking, but it was made up of an immense amount of combined experience and magical power.

"I'll turn the briefing back over to General Yagami," Celica said, taking her seat once more. Hayate nodded and stood back up, waving her hand and summoning a half-dozen large holographic displays, the glowing data suspended above the briefing table.

"I will now outline the complete mission profile of Vanguard."

* * *

_Six hours later:_

"Ugh, I don't know if I can stand another day of this," Victor complained, stretching his arms high above his head, eliciting a loud _pop _from his shoulders.

"Don't bitch," Lutecia said smugly. "You volunteered for this mission, same as the rest of us."

"I'm starting to regret that decision," Victor deadpanned, causing both Celica and Lutecia to laugh. Cinque, stoic and taciturn as ever, merely cracked a small smile at the comment.

"Can it, you two," Celica warned. "The break room isn't secure, and the admiral would have all of our heads on a platter if any of this managed to somehow leak out to the Administrative Council."

"Still angling for our asses, aren't they?" Victor asked laconically.

"Of course," Celica replied. "Our organization is essentially their worst nightmare. I still don't believe they were completely deflected by Administrator Harlaown's announcement at the Council meeting. They've just switched over to silent running—you know as well as I do that the Council won't stop pushing until the Bureau is under its _complete_ control."

"So the Bureau can become filled with a pack of political cronies at the upper echelons, rife with corruption and graft?" Victor demanded cynically.

"Blunt, but accurate," Cinque said softly, closing her eyes as she sipped at her steaming coffee. "The Administration is a government like any other—and politicians have an inherent desire to exert control."

"The briefing's over for the evening," Celica told the other Shadows. "Go home, get some rest and be back here at 0800 tomorrow."

"Do you know when we will be deployed?" Cinque wanted to know.

"I do, but I'm not authorized to release that information until the end of tomorrow's briefing," Celica replied, her mouth twitching into a slight frown. "It won't be long, don't worry."

"If that will be all, then I believe I will visit my sisters before we are deployed," Cinque said, her face neutral, yet Celica could detect a wistful gleam in her eyes. The young woman often did not get a chance to see her "sisters"—Subaru and Ginga were often busy on assignment, and many of the other combat cyborgs "adopted" by Major General Nakajima were busy with their various lives and duties, as well.

"I'm going to go to bed," Lutecia announced exhaustedly, prompting Victor to grin wickedly.

"Your bed... or Vivio's?"

"Shut up, Storm. Just shut the hell up."

Victor and Celica glanced at each other for a long moment before the two of them both burst out laughing. Lutecia's cheeks began to flush slightly, but she smiled as well.

"I'm too keyed up to go back and crash. I'm going to go get a drink in town somewhere, relax a bit," Victor began. "Do you want to come, Celica?"

"I'd love to," Celica said warmly.

* * *

_Lutecia's apartment  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
02.27.0089_

Lutecia was scarcely through the door when her Device let out a triple beep, informing her of an incoming communications link. This one was on her personal channel, and only a handful of individuals actually contacted her through it.

"Vi?" Lutecia asked, smiling broadly as an image of her long-time girlfriend and lover, Vivio Takamachi, appeared on the suspended holographic display.

"Cia, can I come over?" Vivio asked abruptly. "I know you're going to be going away for a while, so I want to see you before you leave."

Lutecia blinked, momentarily taken aback. How did Vivio know she was being assigned to a long mission, far away from Midchilda?

_It must've been Dr. Scrya,_ Lutecia thought amusedly. It was well-known that he was a very close and very old friend of Vivio's adoptive mothers, Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Harlaown.

"Of course," Lutecia said after a moment. "I have to be at work at eight o'clock in the morning, but... it's as you say. We'll talk more in person."

"Okay, Cia," Vivio replied, smiling brightly. "I'll see you soon."

* * *

_Decker's Pub  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
02.27.0089_

"This isn't a Bureau hangout," Celica noted as she walked into the dimly-lit bar, wrinkling her nose at the smell of various types of mild intoxicant smoke. It was certainly a dive—and absolutely the sort of place Victor would frequent, she thought.

"No, and that's why I like it," Victor said with a grin. "I try to _avoid_ the people I knew during my stint in the regular Navy."

"You were terribly unpopular there, too, if I remember correctly," Celica shot back, sitting down at the bar and knocking the heel of her hand against the weathered wood, scarred with countless cigarette burns and wood stains.

"What'll it be, little lady?"

"Red Tempest on the rocks. No crushed ice," Celica said immediately. Victor's eyes widened at the drink Celica ordered, and he simply ordered a whisky with a beer chaser.

"How the hell do you drink those things?"

"With my mouth," Celica replied matter-of-factly, picking up the tumbler of blood-red liquid and taking a long draw off the glass. She gasped loudly and let out a deep, contented sigh. "That'll get your neurons firing!"

"Yeah, _mis_-firing, you mean," Victor said, chuckling. He picked up the shot glass of whisky and tossed it back in one gulp. "You sure look good in a uniform, you know."

"Oh come on, that was such a lame pickup line," Celica groaned aloud. "In any case, last time I checked, we were already sleeping together."

"Not for a while, though," Victor said, his voice subdued. "Celica, I'm wondering... just where is this going?"

"Going? What do you mean?"

"I want to know if you have any concrete plans for this relationship, or are you just... having fun with me, but don't want to... fucking hell, Celica, don't make me say it. It'll damage my manly feelings—all one of them!"

Celica smiled slightly and took a sip from her ridiculously strong drink.

"Victor, I care about you a lot," Celica said after a long while, "but I don't know if the life of a Shadow really makes room for any sort of committed relationship."

"I'm well aware of that," Victor said dryly. "Don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining. I just wanted to know if you see anything in the future... after all of this... for _us_."

"I don't know," Celica admitted, and she was no longer smiling. "I still... I still _see_ her, Vic. In my dreams at night, sometimes when I'm on a Bureau warship... I don't know what I want right now, but I _do _care about you. Trust me on that one."

Victor said nothing, sipping at his beer, deep in thought. He knew exactly what Celica referred to—the_ Shiva_ incident, in which her actions had netted her a recommendation for transfer to NSIS. During the incident, an attempted hijacking of a Bureau cruise patrol warship by a powerful criminal organization, Celica's best friend—and first love—had been killed.

Victor knew all of this and had known for quite some time. He had also known that the older woman had long since struggled with her own sexuality. What came as a surprise, however, was Celica's bald admission that she was still haunted by the ghost of Fiore.

"I didn't know it was still that bad, Celica," Victor said, clasping his hands around Celica's. "I hate it that you're still going through hell because of that. I wish I could help, somehow."

"I know, Vic, I know," said Celica softly, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. "Look, I don't want this to be weird. I like you, but I don't know if I'm... ready for anything serious."

"I understand," Victor said firmly as Celica leaned forward and fell into his arms, sniffling softly on his shoulder. "Shh. Don't cry, just relax."

"I'm sorry," Celica murmured, sniffling, hugging the blond man tightly. "I should be better than this. You _deserve_ better than this broken little girl—"

"You aren't broken, Celica," Victor said warmly. "I care a lot about you. So does Alphine. And even if she doesn't ever say it, so does Nakajima. We're all here for you. You can't _always_ be a tough, dangerous bitch; you're just as human as the rest of us."

Celica said nothing, simply sniffling as she wiped tears away. Victor held her tightly, gently running his long-fingered hand across her red hair.

"If you want to take a step back, I'm perfectly okay with it," Victor continued. "I won't lie to you and say I'm not bummed out, because I am. But I care about you and I don't want you to go into something if you aren't ready."

"Thanks for understanding, Vic," Celica said, smiling slightly.

"That's what friends are for," Victor said, grinning broadly as he ordered another round of drinks.

* * *

_NSIS Headquarters  
Cranagan, Midchilda  
02.27.0089_

Admiral Chrono Harlaown looked up in pure shock as the door to his office opened, revealing his secretary and a short, blue-eyed brunette dressed in the brown uniform of the Midchildan Ground Forces.

"You actually used the door," Chrono said, astonished.

"I figured the joke has run its course," Hayate said with an impish smile. "Is your office secure?"

"No. Give me a moment."

Chrono pressed a button on his desk, causing a deep-blue Midchildan magical circle to blaze into existence on the floor of the desk. The magical seal set, preventing any sort of communications eavesdropping.

"The first stages of Vanguard are proceeding according to plan," Hayate said without preamble, launching directly into it after the office was safely warded. "I will complete the initial briefing tomorrow, and then the operation will be left entirely in Commander Iris-Lynnfield's hands."

"She's more than ready for her own independent command," Chrono said. "After Vanguard completes its mission, depending on the operational logs and the resolution of the mission, I plan to restructure the organization and make Vanguard a permanent unit. Colonel Davidson has done an exemplary job, and I've been strongly considering him as a replacement for Hayes. Davidson's aide, Lieutenant-Commander Accela Norris, will be promoted to head of EAID."

"I wasn't arguing with your choices, nor am I telling you how to run your organization," Hayate replied, not terribly surprised Chrono planned to restructure NSIS. "I, too, believe that Celica will be an ideal commander for Vanguard. I am merely concerned—she has never operated without extensive support and backing from NSIS."

"Why be concerned? The Renegade Incident clearly illustrated what she's capable of _on her own_, without any form of support or even squadmates. Had Celica not acted the way she did, we could be neck-deep in a full-blown coup d'etat."

"I know, but it's my job to worry about these things," Hayate continued. "The Vanguard project is perhaps our greatest chance to ensure a smooth transition of Earth to an administrated world."

"If things go wrong, they go _really_ wrong," Chrono agreed.

"Well then, we'll just have to make sure everything goes right," Hayate said grimly. "You know that I will likely be handling the military aspect. TSAB Command has already arranged it with the Midchildan local government."

"City Defense was a little too tame for you, anyway," the admiral mused. "It'll be good to see you back in the blue uniform again."

Hayate giggled softly, reminding Chrono that underneath the official, hardened exterior of a general officer in the Midchildan Ground Forces and the TSAB, she was still essentially the same girl he had met years ago during the Book of Darkness Incident.

"It'll work, Chrono," Hayate said firmly. "We've got the best possible people in on this, and we'll _make_ it work. Go home, spend some time with your kids. Take a few days off, in fact."

"Back during the incident, Mother and I were talking about taking Amy, Fate and the kids off to an uninhabited garden world for a little vacation. It'll be nice to be Dad instead of Admiral for a week or so."

"They'll only be kids for a little while," Hayate agreed. "I plan to take a weekend with Rossa and the little monster before it gets busy."

"Thanks, Hayate," Chrono said, smiling warmly. "Life's short; we should make the best of it while we can."

* * *

author's notes:

Ah, the end! With this epilogue chapter, _false light_ is over!

This little fic, shorter than my other chapters, serves as an interquel between _false light_ and the next fic I have planned, _the truth_. As this is still _false light_, most of what we see here is related to the Shadow arc—which continues the adventures of Lutecia, Celica, Victor and Cinque.

The other two arcs, Light—which centers on Hayate, the Wolkenritter and Vivio plus mamas; and Homeworld—which focuses on the villains and an important OC antagonist opposed to _all_ the groups arrayed within.

I have no idea when I'll actually start on _the truth_, but expect the Light arc to be the first completed, as I'd like a bit of a break from writing about the same characters from _false light_.

I will probably finish _Altered Course_, a non-Shadowsverse AU fanfic I started writing over a year ago and never finished, before I start on _the truth._

So, stay tuned. :)


End file.
